On Tuesday (18 July), just one day after the viral video of Leon Perera and Nicole Seah started circulating on social media, local news publication AsiaOne posted an interview with someone they identified as Mr Perera’s ex-driver.
The next day, alternative news site The Online Citizen (TOC) published an article questioning how AsiaOne could’ve contacted the driver within such a short period.
The news site also seemingly suggested that Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam could’ve tipped off one of AsiaOne’s employees about the driver’s identity.
Minister Shanmugam has since issued a statement denying any involvement with the incident.
AsiaOne similarly debunked TOC’s allegations, claiming they established contact with the driver through “ground enquiries”.
On Wednesday (19 July), TOC posted an article in response to AsiaOne’s interview with the man identified as Mr Perera’s former driver.
The piece, titled “AsiaOne’s quick access to Leon Perera’s former driver: Coincidence or calculated move?”, pointed out how quickly AsiaOne conducted the interview.
For context, AsiaOne’s interview was posted just a day after a video of Mr Perera and Ms Nicole Seah holding hands started circulating on social media.
TOC then shared about a “potential connection” that could explain AsiaOne’s “prompt reporting”.
The news site claimed that an AsiaOne employee named Edmund Chua had been in contact with the driver for over a year.
Chua’s LinkedIn page states he’s currently the Head of AsiaOne’s Consumer Insights & Analytics Office.
Source: LinkedIn
TOC, however, placed extra emphasis on Chua’s volunteering commitments — in particular, his role as a Data Analyst for Chong Pang Grassroots Organisations since 2008.
Source: LinkedIn
The Taiwan-based news site pointed out that the grassroots entity was headed by Mr Shanmugam, who’s also the MP for Chong Pang in Nee Soon GRC.
TOC shared they had contacted AsiaOne regarding the matter and that the claims were denied.
The news site also referenced an article posted on 17 July about Mr Shanmugam’s visit to AsiaOne’s new office, claiming that the minister had visited the publication just days before the video emerged.
Even though TOC did not make explicit allegations against Mr Shanmugam, AsiaOne, and Mr Chua, they ended their article by saying:
… the rapid succession of events and the intricate web of connections surrounding this scandal cannot be overlooked.
At about 9pm on Wednesday (19 July), Mr Shanmugam issued a statement in response to TOC’s post, calling it “false”.
Source: K Shanmugam on Facebook
He said TOC’s article suggested he had tipped off Mr Chua to contact Mr Perera’s ex-driver.
However, he outrightly denies this, claiming he does not know Mr Perera’s former driver and hasn’t spoken to Mr Chua about the matter.
As for his visit to AsiaOne’s office, Mr Shanmugam clarified that the visit happened on 13 June, nearly a month before the video leaked.
He further stated that he had been overseas for a week prior to the saga, and had only returned to Singapore on Monday (17 July) evening.
Later that night, AsiaOne issued a similar statement on its page, denying TOC’s allegations.
Describing TOC’s article as “scurrilous”, AsiaOne said Mr Chua didn’t have any contact with the ex-driver and wasn’t involved in arranging the interview.
As for the interview itself, AsiaOne said they managed to locate him on Tuesday (18 July) after conducting “ground enquiries”.
AsiaOne also denies receiving any information from anyone from the Government.
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Featured image adapted from K Shanmugam on Facebook and AsiaOne.
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