Ex worker of Straits Times arrested for threatening Singapore opposition politician
(01-25 17:40)
A former Singaporean newspaper worker has been arrested for threatening an opposition leader and his family ahead of a by-election, his employer and police said today.
The 23-year-old is accused of sending menacing emails to Reform Party head Kenneth Jeyaretnam, who had previously received messages he described as “tantamount to death threats.’’
Media group Singapore Press Holdings said in its flagship newspaper The Straits Times that the man was a clerk in its classified ads department.
“A temporary staff member is being investigated for a criminal offence which has no bearing on, or [is] related to SPH,'' a newspaper spokesman was quoted in the report as saying. “He has since resigned, and we have accepted his resignation.’’
A police statement seen by AFP read: “Police have classified the case as criminal intimidation,'' adding that the man, who has not been named, had sent the threat on January 23. If convicted he faces up to two years in prison.
Former financial trader Jeyaretnam had lodged a police report on January 18 saying he had received multiple threats against him and his London-based wife and teenage son.
He told local media at the time they had been “tantamount to death threats.’’
“This is in the hands of the police and I have no further comment until the investigation is completed,'' Jeyaretnam told AFP today, ahead of Saturday's by-election.
Jeyaretnam is one of four candidates fighting for a seat left vacant when former parliamentary speaker Michael Palmer quit politics after confessing to an extramarital affair.
His party holds no parliamentary seats and the election is seen largely as a battle between the ruling People's Action Party and the main opposition Workers' Party.
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