SINGAPORE — The theory that United States researcher Shane Todd was murdered was “untrue”, and one that was based on “pure imagination” and “pure fantasy”, said Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam yesterday.

The Financial Times (FT), which first carried the report of Todd’s death and his family’s claims of murder in February, should also “do the honourable thing and correct the inaccuracies” and “set out the truth as prominently as it set out the original fictional conspiracy”, the minister added.

But when asked if the Government would take legal action against the newspaper, Mr Shanmugam replied: “I don’t think that’s a path we want to go down.” In response to TODAY’s query, an FT spokesperson said it “stands by its reporting on the Shane Todd case”.

Mr Shanmugam said State Coroner Chay Yuen Fatt’s verdict was concluded based on “clear incontrovertible” evidence and that the inquiry process had been “open”. “I think many of us are parents, we can understand the family’s grief. At the same time, we need the strength to face the truth, not make fictional untrue statements and allegations,” he said.

On allegations that the police here did not follow standard operating procedures and if clearer guidelines should be laid out in future, Mr Shanmugam said the police’s actions were “acceptable in context” and that procedures were “accurate” and “correct”.

Mr Shanmugam also said he does not think that US-Singapore relations “ought to be affected” because of the case. “All who wanted to give evidence were able to do so. Experts were presented, we worked with the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). So we have cooperated with the US officials. I think the world can see what we have done and all I can see is, we have acted according to the law to get to the truth,” said the minister. Ashley Chia