At least two people have apologised to Minister of Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam on Facebook for recirculating "scandalous statements" about him.

This was after Shanmugam posted on his Facebook page on Aug. 15, 2023, saying he would file a police report after seeing people "deliberately recirculating" a “nasty, false post” which was put up “many years ago”.

Shanmugam said there was “old post, fake news” of him having “had an affair with an MP” being recirculated.

He slammed them as “false, baseless allegations” and mentioned that he had asked his lawyers to look into the matter and would consider other options.

First person apologises

The first person, who claims to be called Dave Tham, posted on a Facebook group page on the following day stating that he apologise for putting up "a scandalous post on Minister K Shanmugam, which also referred to a post supposedly made by his ex-wife".

He also claimed to have checked with Shanmugam's ex-wife and confirmed that it was an imposter that had put up the original post, not her.

Tham said, "I should not have done what I did."

In a separate post which has since been deleted, he said he reached out to Shanmugam and said he was "kind enough to let the matter rest".

Tham also claimed that he contacted the Member of Parliament (MP) Foo Mee Har mentioned in his allegations to apologise.

Tham emphasised, "At no point in time they've threatened or induced me in any way."

He added, "For me, if I think a wrong is made or done… just do the right thing by righting the wrong asap."

Second person apologises

Another person named Gordon Ong also posted on his personal Facebook page on Aug. 17 to apologise.

He said he published "false, scandalous statements about Mr K Shanmugam on various Facebook pages" on Aug. 15 and Aug. 16.

Ong also said he "sent these falsehoods actively on no less than 92 occasions on those two days."

"I apologise unreservedly to Mr K Shanmugam for making these false and scandalous statements," Ong said, adding that he removed all the statements and undertook not to publish any further statements on the allegations.

"What I did was wrong, and I am very sorry for what I did," Ong concluded.

MP accepts apology

Mothership reached out to Foo, and she confirmed that Tham wrote to her twice to apologise and appealed to her to "let the matter rest".

She accepts his apology but reserves her right to act against those who continue to spread falsehood.

She added, "It is regrettable that such outrageous falsehood is being perpetrated online. Such vicious fake news cause hurt and damage and must be stopped and corrected."

Top image via Mothership file