PM Lee and DPM Wong didn’t disclose Iswaran’s arrest, so as not to deviate from CPIB's statement on 'operational matters': PMO
A screenshot of the article about the CPIB probe into Transport Minister S Iswaran. The article has since been taken down and a Correction Notice added.
SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong did not state that Transport Minister S Iswaran had been arrested when they spoke about the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau's (CPIB) probe on July 12 as disclosing such information was CPIB's "call to make", the Pofma Office said on Thursday (July 20).
Minister in Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah had instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) Office to issue a Correction Direction to a political blog called Political Sophistry over an article about the probe, including the statements made by Mr Lee and Mr Wong, the Pofma Office said in a media release.
When Mr Lee and Mr Wong spoke about the probe on July 12, they had said that Mr Iswaran was assisting CPIB with an investigation, the statement added.
CPIB had issued a press statement on July 12 stating that Mr Iswaran was assisting CPIB with an investigation.
Later on July 14, CPIB provided an update in response to media queries, stating that Mr Iswaran and Mr Ong Beng Seng had been arrested on July 11, and subsequently released on bail.
The Pofma Office statement said that the article in question was titled “Upfront and transparent? A timeline of the CPIB investigation into Transport Minister Iswaran” and was published on July 16.
It added that the article had falsely stated that Mr Lee and Mr Wong did not want to disclose the fact of Mr Iswaran’s arrest when they made public statements on July 12 because it was "politically embarrassing".
The article also falsely stated that on the same day, Mr Wong deliberately withheld information that two arrests had been made in connection with the case because he wanted to conceal the truth.
"Political Sophistry will be required to carry a correction notice at the top of the article and at the top of the main page of their website, so that readers can read both versions and draw their own conclusions."
By 5.45pm on Thursday, a Correction Notice had been added to the Political Sophistry website.
The Pofma Office media statement said the public may refer to the Factually article “Corrections regarding false statements of fact in Political Sophistry article “Upfront and transparent? A timeline of the CPIB investigation into Transport Minister Iswaran” at https://www.gov.sg/article/factually200723-a.
