When confronted about the allegations over their affair by Workers' Party (WP) members in 2021, both Leon Perera and Nicole Seah denied those allegations, said WP Secretary-General Pritam Singh.

Singh was speaking at a press conference on Jul. 19 after a video of an "inappropriate exchange" between the pair began circulating on social media.

First learnt about affair in 2021

Singh said that he had first learnt about the alleged affair sometime around late 2020 and early 2021.

Perera's then-driver informed him via WhatsApp that both party members were meeting frequently at restaurants and hotels.

They had also been seen hugging each other and holding hands, the driver said.

Singh said that at the time, there was no evidence or corroboratory information to support the allegations, and he also did not know Perera's driver personally.

"Upon receipt of this information, I asked Leon whether anything was going on between him and Nicole," Singh said.

Perera and Seah denied the allegations

Perera denied the allegations, and shared that he was in an ongoing dispute with the driver.

He added that he had sought legal advice on the driver's allegations.

"Over the course of the next few months, Leon's driver also shared substantively the same information with other members of the party," Singh said.

"When they received these messages from Leon's driver, all of them sought to clarify these allegations with Leon. Leon told them that there was no truth to these allegations."

Separately, other Central Executive Committee (CEC) members also approached Seah after being informed of the same allegations by the driver. Seah confirmed there was "no truth to the allegations".

As such, when the video surfaced on Jul. 17, it was "the first time for all of us" seeing it, Singh said.

Affair allegedly stopped "some time ago"

Upon viewing the video for the first time on Monday, Jul. 17, Singh contacted Perera and Seah and arranged to meet them separately.

Only then did they admit that they had an affair, which started after the 2020 General Elections.

They clarified that the affair had "stopped some time ago".

Nevertheless, Perera admitted that he "should have been more forthcoming" when the members first approached him about the allegations.

Singh added that had he not received Perera's letter of resignation, he would have recommended his expulsion from the party.

"The Constitution of the Workers' Party requires candidates to be honest and frank with their dealings with the Party and the people of Singapore.

Leon's conduct had not been truthful when asked by the Party's leadership of the allegations, and fell short of the standards expected for this Party."

Top photo from Nicole Seah and Leon Perera's Facebook pages.