Home Affairs and Law Minister, K Shanmugam, refutes allegations in Facebook posts amidst controversy

SINGAPORE: In the midst of a property rental controversy, Minister for Home Affairs and Law, K Shanmugam, took to Facebook on Tuesday evening to address personal allegations circulating against him.

1. Addressing Alleged Affair with MP:

The first post by Mr. Shanmugam tackled allegations of an affair with an MP. “I have been told that an old post, fake news, is being recirculated – that I had an affair with an MP. False baseless allegations,” he stated.

The Minister has engaged his lawyers on the matter and is weighing other possible actions.

2. Disputing Imposter’s Claims about Ex-wife Jothie Rajah:

In a subsequent post, he clarified a past incident concerning an imposter who falsely claimed to be his ex-wife, Jothie Rajah, daughter of Senior Counsel and former Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Singapore, K.S. Rajah.

“A person pretending to be my ex-wife Jothie, put up a nasty, false post, many years ago,” he shared. Mr. Shanmugam confirmed that Jothie had disavowed any connection to the post, attributing it to the imposter.

While he had initially considered filing a police report when the issue first emerged, he chose not to. With the post resurfacing, he now plans to proceed with the police report.

Mr Shanmugam and Jothie Rajah were previously married for 15 years, but their marriage ended due to “mutual incompatibility”.

Speculations and allegations, such as the ones the Minister recently addressed, have been cited by some as potential reasons for their separation, although these claims remain unsubstantiated.

Parallel to these personal clarifications, Mr Shanmugam is also contending with public scrutiny over renting 26 Ridout Road, a sizable black-and-white bungalow of 23,164 sqm (249,294 sq ft) at S$26,500 from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), a statutory board under his oversight as the Minister for Law.

Ministerial statements by Mr Shanmugam and Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on the matter were released in a parliamentary sitting in July.

Cabinet members of the People’s Action Party government refuted any wrongdoing, highlighting reviews by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean and the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) which cleared both ministers.

However, concerns about a potential conflict of interest persist. Engaging in negotiations with an agency within one’s own ministry, even after recusal, can give rise to perceptions of impropriety. This seems at odds with the Ministers’ Code of Conduct from 1954.

The parliament session in July brought these concerns to the fore, with both the opposition and the public vocalizing their desire for clearer answers, but the responses provided were hardly satisfactory.

In addition to the Ridout rental saga, Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan are also embroiled in a legal dispute with Mr Lee Hsien Yang, son of late Lee Kuan Yew.

They have threatened to sue him for defamation over a Facebook post in which Mr Lee commented on the declining trust of Singaporeans in the PAP government. So far, no public update on the legal threat by the two ministers has been made.