On Sep. 13, 2023, the website East Asia Forum was issued a Correction Direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said that an article on East Asia Forum titled "A spate of scandals strikes Singapore" contained "false statements in relation to various matters, including the independence of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau and the Prime Minister's approach in addressing certain matters".

The article, published on Aug. 18, 2023, was written by Chan Ying-kit, an assistant professor at the Department of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore.

PMO said that while the author is "free to express his views on the above matters, his artice makes false and misleading statements while omitting key facts on these matters of public interest".

Chan claimed PM Lee conflated marital infidelity with corruption

In his article, Chan highlighted several high profile political incidents that emerged at around the same time:

1. the extra-marital affair between former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan Jin and former People's Action Party (PAP) member Cheng Li Hui
2. the CPIB probe involving Minister for Transport S Iswaran
3. the rental of Ridout Road state properties by ministers
4. the extra-marital affair between former Workers' Party MPs Leon Perera and Nicole Seah

Chan claimed that PM Lee, in addressing these issues together, conflated marital infidelity to corruption, calling it a "clever sleight of hand".

PMO said Chan's statement was false, as PM Lee did not conflate marital infidelity and corruption.

PMO pointed out that PM Lee gave his views on the CPIB investigations and extra-marital affairs at the press conference on Jul. 17 when asked by the media.

"Any concurrent mention of both the CPIB investigations and extra-marital affairs related only to the close proximity of the timing in which the incidents were made public, and not the substance of these incidents."

In addition, PM Lee clarified in his ministerial statement on Aug. 2 that the government took different approaches when handling allegations of corruption and misconduct in personal lives differently.

Chan claimed that CPIB is not independent

Chan also questioned the independence of CPIB, stating that CPIB "reports directly to the Prime Minister alone, which puts its independence in doubt".

PMO said that Chan's statement on CPIB was false as CPIB reports directly to the Prime Minister in the sense that the agency is accountable to the Prime Minister.

"CPIB, like all other agencies, has to be accountable to somebody. A state agency cannot operate without any oversight or governance."

PMO also pointed out that Chan's article "omits to mention the other safeguards that have been put in place to ensure CPIB's independence".

CPIB is not legally required to seek the consent of the Prime Minister before conducting its investigations. Even if the Prime Minister does not consent, the Constitution allows CPIB to continue investigations with the concurrence of the President.

Chan alluded to cover-up of wrongdoing or corruption in 1996 regarding PM Lee, Lee Kuan Yew and Hotel Properties Ltd

Chan brought up an incident in 1996 where then-Senior Minister (SM) Lee Kuan Yew and then-Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Lee Hsien Loong received over S$1 million in discount when they purchased Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) properties.

He alluded that there was a cover up as then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong did not refer to the matter to CPIB.

PMO said Chan's allusion was false as the matter was openly debated in Parliament in 1996.

Members of Parliament (MPs) who spoke during the debate did not state there was anything wrong with the discounts then-SM and then-DPM received.

Investigations by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) also did not disclose any wrongdoing or impropriety by the Lees.

In his article, Chan drew links between the 1996 incident and the recent Ridout Road review by SM Teo Chee Hean, alluding to a similar cover-up.

PMO dismissed this as false.

Ministers K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan requested an independent investigation of their rental of the state properties and PM Lee tasked CPIB to do the investigation.

"CPIB investigated into the matter and produced a report after a thorough factual investigation. Its report stated that it found no evidence of corruption or wrongdoing in the rental transactions of the Ridout Road properties."

SM Teo subsequently reviewed the matter using CPIB's findings.

He found that both the ministers and the public officers, as well as private sector intermediaries involved, "conducted themselves properly in the rental transactions of the Ridout Road properties".

East Asia Forum will be required to carry a correction notice at the top of the article, the main page of their website, the relevant Facebook post and their Facebook page so that readers can "read both versions and draw their own conclusions", said the PMO.

Top photo via East Asia Forum