Singapore—Daniel Teo Weilong has apologised to SPP Chairman Jose Raymond for implicating two members of the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) and for the video that contained accusations that the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) was “infiltrated by foreign proxies”.
Mr Raymond, who was mentioned in the video, had issued a letter of demand to Mr Teo on May 2 to admit the falsehood of the statements made in the video, as well as apologise “for his actions, to undertake not to repeat them and to pay damages”.
On May 5, Mr Teo, who had been sacked from PSP following the revelation that he had been responsible for the video, posted an apology letter on his Facebook page that had been sent to Mr Raymond.
His apology, which had been issued to Mr Raymond’s lawyer, Eugene Thuraisingam via his lawyers, Goh JP & Wong LLC, read:
“I admit and acknowledge that these allegations are false and completely without foundation and I unreservedly withdraw them.
I unreservedly apologise to Mr Jose Raymond for the distress and embarrassment caused to him by these false allegations. I undertake not to make any further allegations to the same or similar effect.”
https://www.facebook.com/DanielTeoWL/photos/a.1010048525683931/3118102494878513/?type=3
On Wednesday morning (May 6), Mr Raymond thanked his lawyer in a Facebook post “for taking swift, and immediate action to seek redress over the false and baseless allegations made by the individual.”
The SPP chairman added that aside from the apology and pledge not to repeat his allegations, he has also asked that Mr Teo make a donation to the The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund, instead of publishing an apology in the Straits Times.
Mr Raymond explained, “The ST Pocket Money Fund provides support to children from under-resourced families. Please support them.”
https://www.facebook.com/JoseRaymondThomas/posts/2710181509216500
Mr Thuraisingam is quoted in TODAY as saying that Mr Raymond had waived damages “on goodwill” and that Mr Teo had “genuine remorse”.
Mr Teo’s lawyers said in a letter to Mr Thuraisingam that Mr Teo had “never intended to publish this video without properly checking the veracity of its allegations and contents”. He had sent the video to Wong Tei Ping, a senior journalist from TODAY, for “fact-checking.”
However, TODAY reports that she had gotten the video on April 18 from an anonymous source via an email, on which the only message was “Hi. there is a video attached,” along with a link to the video. She added that Mr Teo had never asked her to do any fact-checking related to the video.
The matter is now under investigation since others named in Mr Teo’s video have filed police reports, including Kumaran Pillai and Ravi Philemon.
On Saturday (May 2) Kumaran Pillai took to Facebook to write, “I would like to categorically deny these allegations as they are baseless, without merit and false….It is troubling that my friends and I with impeccable character are tarnished and maligned in this way. It is grossly unfair to us.” —/TISG