PM Lee and DPM Wong did not reveal Iswaran arrest as it was related to CPIB's 'operational matters', says PMO
The Prime Minister's Office said this as it issued POFMA correction orders to the blog Political Sophistry.
A screengrab of the Political Sophistry blog on Singapore politics and current affairs, which was issued a POFMA correction direction on Jul 20, 2023.
SINGAPORE: In their respective comments on the anti-graft probe involving Transport Minister S Iswaran, both Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong did not want to deviate from what the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) had announced in its initial statement on the investigation as it was "related to operational matters", the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said on Thursday (Jul 20).
This was revealed as part of a correction direction issued to Political Sophistry, a blog on Singapore politics, under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).
In its press release, PMO said an article published on Jul 16 - “Upfront and transparent? A timeline of the CPIB investigation into Transport Minister Iswaran” - had falsely conveyed that Mr Lee and Mr Wong did not want to disclose that Mr Iswaran had been arrested because it was "politically embarrassing".
The article, according to PMO, also suggested that Mr Wong had “deliberately withheld information” as he wanted to "conceal the truth".
These statements are false, said PMO.
On Jul 12, CPIB issued a press release stating that Mr Iswaran was assisting the bureau with an investigation.
Mr Lee’s statement and Mr Wong’s media interview conducted on the same day kept to what CPIB had announced. The reason for this, said PMO, was that: “It is CPIB’s call to make, on the operational information it was comfortable to provide in the CPIB’s press releases.”
Two days later, CPIB provided an update in response to media queries stating that Mr Iswaran and property tycoon Ong Beng Seng were arrested on Jul 11 and subsequently released on bail.
The blog, Political Sophistry, started in February this year, publishes commentaries regarding Singapore politics.
Topics include the Ridout Road debate - where the rentals of state properties by two senior ministers had raised questions - as well as the government's handling of the resignations of parliamentary speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and lawmaker Cheng Li Hui.
As part of the correction direction, the blog will be required to publish a correction notice stating that the post contained a false statement of fact, together with a link to a Factually article which sets out the correct facts.
A check by CNA on Thursday evening showed that Political Sophistry had put up the correction notice on its home page.
