Singapore’s Shanmugam receives apology from ex-Reform Party member who spread TikTok rumours about ‘extramarital affair’

In an apology note entitled “Apology and Undertaking”, Thaddeus Thomas said: “I admit that I intended to put up these falsehoods and acknowledge that those statements are false and completely without foundation.”

Thomas continued in his note: “I regret my actions and apologise unreservedly to Mr K Shanmugam for making the false and libellous statements on my TikTok post. I admit that I received advice and encouragement to put up my false post and regret listening to this advice.”

Thomas also said he “intentionally ignored” a letter sent by Shanmugam’s lawyers on August 25 to his Facebook account via Facebook Messenger as he thought that Shanmugam’s team would not be able to identify him.

He said that he only replied to Shanmugam on November 30, after he read in news article that the minister applied for court orders to compel TikTok to disclose user information about him.

TikTok faces civil suit from Singapore minister over ‘baseless’ affair claims

In the note, Thomas also said Shanmugam “kindly agreed” to his request not to ask for damages, despite his “scurrilous allegations”.

Thomas said he would also foot any legal costs incurred by Shanmugam.

On August 13, a TikTok user with the username “@trusted.selller” allegedly uploaded a video that contained two images with the caption “GIVE HIM A DEFAMATION SUIT SISTER #MINISTER #SG #VIRAL #EXWIFE”.

The images of two screenshots, one of which appeared to be a Facebook page that responded to the search term “k shanmugam ex wife” and displayed an image of Shanmugam and his former wife.

The other was a screenshot of a forum post that contained allegations against Mr Shanmugam and was attributed to a “Former Mrs K. Shanmugam”.

Two days later, another TikTok user “@tharakhussin” purportedly uploaded a video containing an image of a Facebook post that featured an article published by celebscritic.com, which included false and defamatory statements about Shanmugam.

The video did not directly link back to the article, but it displayed the headline in full, highlighting Shanmugam’s alleged extramarital affair with a member of parliament, Foo Mee Har.

The third TikTok user “@thaddeusthomas81” allegedly posted a video on August 17, which was purported to be about the minister. It had the caption, “Clarifications and a look at who is the wife and alleged mistress”.

The video also contained an image, among others, of Foo with the words “alleged affair with MP Foo Mee Har”.

K. Shanmugam, Vivian Balakrishnan sue Lee Hsien Yang over Ridout allegations

To clarify the false allegations, Shanmugum said on his Facebook account on August 15 that an impostor wrote the allegations attributed to his former wife and that his ex-wife had told him she did not write them.

The minister also said at the time that the allegations of his supposed affair with an MP were “false and baseless”.

Thomas said in his apology note that the TikTok post and any copies have been removed.

“I undertake not to publish any further statements on this, or to make any allegations to the same or similar effect, in any manner whatsoever,” he said.