The Police have completed their investigations against Mr Thum Ping Tjin for breaches of the Parliamentary Elections Act (PEA) during the Singapore General Election 2020 (GE 2020). Mr Thum is a director of Observatory Southeast Asia Ltd (OSEA Ltd), which publishes New Naratif (NN). According to its Transparency Reports published on the NN website, NN received a grant from the US-based Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI) in March 2018. NN also received funding from 1303 members, which include foreign citizens, as of end August 2020.
Investigations were conducted after a Police report was filed by the Elections Department (ELD) in respect of five paid Internet election advertisements published through NN during GE 2020 when there was no authorisation to do so.
On 3 July 2020, an Assistant Returning Officer (ARO) issued a notice to Facebook to remove the paid Internet election advertisements published using the NN platform, which was in contravention of Section 83(2) of the PEA. ELD released a media statement on the notice on the same day and reminded the public that paid Internet election advertising requires authorisation by a candidate or an election agent from the start of the campaign period.
On 4 July 2020, the takedown decision by ELD was publicised via the NN platform. Thereafter however, OSEA continued to publish four other paid advertisements through NN. A Police report was therefore lodged. As part of the investigation process, the Police interviewed Mr Thum on two occasions, and his mobile phone and laptop were seized for forensic examination as part of investigations in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code. Investigations revealed that the paid advertisements were intended to prejudice the electoral prospects of a political party during GE 2020, which constituted the conduct of election activity under the PEA.
The Police, in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, have issued a stern warning to Mr Thum in lieu of prosecution for five counts of having consented to OSEA Ltd’s unauthorised conduct of election activity through the paid Internet election advertising in question under Section 83(2) read with Section 108(1)(a) of the PEA on 15 September 2021. OSEA Ltd has similarly been issued with a stern warning in lieu of prosecution, through Mr Thum, for five counts of unauthorised conduct of election activity under Section 83(2) of the PEA.
Conducting election activity without authorisation by a candidate or his election agent from the start of the campaign period is an offence under Section 83(2) of the PEA. Any person convicted of such offence may be liable to a fine of up to $2,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 12 months. Under Section 108(1)(a) of the PEA, any director or any person purporting to act in any such capacity is guilty of that offence committed by a body corporate where that offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of that director or person.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
15 September 2021 @ 12:45 PM