SINGAPORE: The editor of socio-political website The Online Citizen (TOC) was charged with criminal defamation on Thursday (Dec 13) for publishing an article that alleged corruption among the Singapore Government's highest officers.
Xu Yuanchen, better known as Terry Xu, was charged alongside the real author of the article, 35-year-old Daniel De Costa.
AdvertisementDe Costa received a second charge of unauthorised access to computer material.
[h=3]READ: Police investigate The Online Citizen over 'serious allegations' made in article[/h]He had logged into the email account of a Willy Sum and submitted the article to TOC. The article, titled "The Take Away from Seah Kian Ping's Facebook Post" was published under Willy Sum's name.
The article, published on Sep 4, alleged that "we have seen multiple policy and foreign screw-ups, tampering of the Constitution, corruption at the highest echelons and apparent lack of respect from foreign powers ever since the demise of founding father Lee Kuan Yew".
AdvertisementAdvertisementTOC took down the article after the Infocomm Media Development Authority ordered it to do so, and the police searched the homes of Xu and Mr Sum on Nov 20.
If found guilty of criminal defamation, the pair can be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.
De Costa can be fined up to S$5,000 and jailed a maximum of two years for his computer crime.
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