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One of two men issued legal letters apologises to Manpower Minister for allegations of profiteering and corruption

SINGAPORE — One of the two men to whom Manpower Minister Josephine Teo had issued letters of demand — for making false statements accusing her and her husband of profiteering and corruption — has apologised to her.

Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said in a statement issued through her lawyers that statements by Mr Donald Liew and Mr Jolovan Wham were “untrue, scurrilous and completely baseless”.

Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said in a statement issued through her lawyers that statements by Mr Donald Liew and Mr Jolovan Wham were “untrue, scurrilous and completely baseless”.

SINGAPORE — One of the two men to whom Manpower Minister Josephine Teo had issued letters of demand — for making false statements accusing her and her husband of profiteering and corruption — has apologised to her.

In his apology posted on Facebook on Wednesday evening (May 20), Mr Donald Liew said that he had published a statement on May 14 alleging that Mrs Teo had improperly benefited herself and her family financially, as a result of her mismanagement of the dormitory infections relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the development of emergency housing facilities by infrastructure consultancy Surbana Jurong.

Mrs Teo’s husband is Mr Teo Eng Cheong, chief executive officer (international) of Surbana Jurong.

“I admit and acknowledge that these allegations are false and completely without foundation. I apologise unreservedly to Mrs Josephine Teo for making them,” Mr Liew wrote, adding that he had also removed his original statement from Facebook.

He also undertook not to publish any further statements on this or to make any allegations to the same or similar effect in any manner.

Mrs Teo had also issued a letter of demand to civil rights activist Jolovan Wham on Wednesday over similar statements he had made. 

TODAY has reached out to Mr Wham for comment.

On Wednesday, Mrs Teo said in a statement issued through her lawyers that the statements by Mr Liew and Mr Wham were “untrue, scurrilous and completely baseless”.

They were both related to the development of the community care facility by Surbana Jurong at the Singapore Expo Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Singapore Expo is one of several designated community care facilities for Covid-19 patients, including migrant workers, who are clinically well or display mild symptoms. All 10 halls in the Singapore Expo have been converted for this purpose, with a capacity of 8,000 beds.

“On these projects, Surbana Jurong dealt directly with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of National Development. Neither my spouse nor I have any involvement with the commissioning of these projects or the monetary transactions,” Mrs Teo had said.

She added that although she is legally entitled to substantial damages for the allegations, she does not intend to pursue the matter further or claim damages. She just wished for the allegations to be publicly withdrawn, with apologies given.

She separately asked for the two individuals to make a donation of S$1,000 each to the Migrant Workers’ Assistance Fund.

The letters of demand followed a statement issued by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of National Development on Wednesday afternoon.

It outlined how the Government had asked sovereign wealth fund Temasek to help at short notice to set up a community care facility for recovering Covid-19 patients and those with mild or no symptoms, and how Temasek had then done so with help from its various subsidiaries.

The ministries added that the Ministry of Manpower and Mrs Teo were not involved in the selection of Surbana Jurong or any of the parties that participated in the development of the Singapore Expo facility, and were not involved in the process of managing the costs of the project.

Surbana Jurong had also issued a separate statement on Tuesday refuting the allegations, saying that they were “not only untrue, they are disrespectful of our colleagues who have made enormous sacrifices, including putting their health at risk, to deliver the projects under challenging conditions, for the benefit of our community”.

Related topics

Josephine Teo Surbana Jurong Covid-19 coronavirus

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