S'pore invites US to probe into Shane Todd case

S'pore invites US to probe into Shane Todd case
By Simon Marks | Posted: 13 March 2013 1023 hrs
     
SINGAPORE: Singapore's Foreign Minister K Shanmugam said authorities are "committed to getting to the bottom" of the death of an American researcher in Singapore last year.

Thirty-one-year-old Shane Todd was found hanged in his Singapore apartment last June in an apparent suicide.

However, his parents believe he was murdered.

Speaking in Washington, Mr Shanmugam said Singapore has invited the United States to audit the relationship between Todd's employer, the Institute of Microelectronics, and the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

Mr Shanmugam arrived on Capitol Hill within hours of touching down in the US and his first stop was a meeting with Senator Max Baucus of Montana.

Shane Todd's parents are among his constituents.

Mr Shanmugam told reporters the authorities in Singapore will get to the bottom of the young American's death.

"A death happens in Singapore, we must get to the bottom of it. And we are the kind of country where this is done in public with a public inquiry," said Mr Shanmugam.

Todd's parents suspect their son was killed in connection with his work for Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics.

They have told media organizations he was not suicidal, but was worried by a project the Institute discussed with the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

For that reason, Mr Shanmugam invited US officials to take a detailed look at the relationship between the two organisations.

"The institute involved, the research institute, is subject to very rigorous audit and we are very happy for a team of a US team to come down and look at the projects and it will be very clear that there was no transfer of technology."

Dr Todd's parents are demanding more. They and Senator Baucus want the FBI to be granted oversight of the Singaporean police investigation.

"We need an independent third party verification of whatever the Singaporean police are saying, whatever the report might be, and I think the US FBI can be that objective third party," said Senator Baucus.

The Singaporean authorities said the police will share evidence in the Shane Todd case with the FBI.

However, in a telephone interview, Dr Todd's father told Channel NewsAsia that isn't enough to persuade him to share a hard drive he found in his son's apartment with the Singaporean authorities.

"We need to hear that they are willing to share all of Shane's items which are both of his computers, his journal and his cellphone. There are a lot of things we have questions about. We have to have an agency that has oversight on the part of the Singapore police," said Rick Todd.

Mr Shanmugam said the family will be entitled to participate in the public inquiry into Shane Todd's death.

- CNA/fa/ac

- wong chee tat :)