Tan Kin Lian hits back at netizen's accusations

[MarrickG]

Presidential hopeful Tan Kin Lian has threatened legal action against a netizen who had accused him of "inappropriate behaviour" while he was the CEO of NTUC Income.

According to Mr Tan, the netizen - who he identified as the boyfriend of an NTUC Income employee during his tenure - had posted "malicious statements" about him on several websites, reported The New Paper.

Among other things, he accused Mr Tan of letting staff who share his views - particularly if they were young, pretty, and female - get promoted more quickly. Mr Tan rebutted this on his blog and to The New Paper, saying that promotions, transfers, and staff termination were not done by him. Rather, it is the cooperative's human resources department who handles these matters.

The netizen also said he used the swimming pool of the NTUC Income Centre every morning. According to the netizen, the pool is located on the sixth level of the building, the same level as Mr Tan's office.

Mr Tan said that the swimming pool is actually on the seventh level, while his office on the sixth. He also said that he might have used the pool a total of 20 times during his 20 years in office.

The netizen also accused Mr Tan of letting a "favoured" manager "traumatise" and "mistreat" his girlfriend until she ended up in the hospital. Mr Tan rebutted this again, saying he was not involved in the incident concerning the girlfriend and the manager, which happened five years ago.

On his blog, Mr Tan wrote: "This was a case that I did not deal with personally - as there are people in the line of authority who were responsible to deal with the matter. The accuser must have felt very angry over this matter and is now spreading malicious smears against my character in several websites and circulating the smears widely by e-mail. He was not even an employee of NTUC Income, but he made many detailed statements that appeared to the public to be the grievances of a former employee."

In an interview with The New Paper, Mr Tan said that he is prepared to drop the matter once the netizen stops his smear campaign.

"But if he continues, I will get the evidence to take the appropriate legal action."

Mr Tan also wrote on his blog: "A few people told me that their friends had received the e-mail and had a bad impression of me through the accusations. One person said, 'there is no smoke without fire'. This is the damage that can be caused by malicious lies."

He continued: "I do not object if someone called me a liar (which is just an opinion), but the smears against me by this person (and I know his identity now) is many times more serious and malicious. I have to consider taking legal action against him when I find the time later on to gather the appropriate evidence."