Verdict in Singapore: U.S. engineer Shane Todd killed himself

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Verdict in Singapore: U.S. engineer Shane Todd killed himself

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By Kevin Lim and John O'Callaghan
SINGAPORE | Mon Jul 8, 2013 6:29am EDT

(Reuters) - American engineer Shane Todd committed suicide in Singapore last year, a coroner's inquiry in the city-state concluded on Monday, a verdict at odds with his family's belief that he was murdered because of his work.

The case had threatened to become a diplomatic issue as Senator Max Baucus, who represents Todd's home state of Montana, had pressed for more U.S. involvement in the investigation.

The possibility of damage to U.S.-Singapore ties appears to have diminished, even though Todd's parents have vowed to push for an investigation at home. They allege Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics (IME), where their son had worked, was involved in the transfer of sensitive technology to China.

After the verdict, the U.S. embassy in Singapore said: "The inquiry into Dr. Todd's death was comprehensive, fair and transparent". The statement expressed "heartfelt sympathy" to his family, friends and colleagues.

Todd, 31, died of "asphyxia by hanging" and there was "no foul play involved in the deceased's death," said the summary of the findings by District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt, issued after two weeks of testimony by dozens of witnesses in May. Singapore law requires an inquiry into any death not resulting from illness.

Singapore sees the case as closed but will be open to the Todds "if they want to talk to us, if they want to come over and look at things again", K. Shanmugam, the foreign minister and law minister, told Reuters.

"This is not a case like a civil litigation where one side wins and one side loses. It is a sad situation."

Through their lawyer, the Todds said they would issue a statement after they had gone through the 145-page report.

U.S. AUDIT OF SINGAPORE COMPANY

Todd was found hanging from the bathroom door of his apartment in June 2012, two days after he left his job at IME. He was researching an advanced semiconductor material called gallium nitride (GaN) that has commercial and military uses.

Todd's parents believe he was murdered over what they said was his role in a project between state-linked IME and Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

Shanmugam said a "process audit" of IME by U.S. officials had begun to allow them to "satisfy themselves there has been no such illegal transfer (of technology) as has been alleged".

"The process has started. It will be continuing through this month," he said, adding U.S. experts would arrive in mid-July.

Huawei and Singapore officials have denied the accusations, saying they did not proceed beyond initial discussions into a possible project involving GaN, which can be used in equipment ranging from mobile phone base stations to military radars.

The judge concurred.

"The potential GaN power amplifier project did not even materialize. Even if it did, which I did not find, the listed specifications show it would not have violated general export control laws, nor could it have been used for military applications," he said.

"(Todd) was not in possession of confidential and valuable classified information in the course of his employment."

Huawei has been blocked from some projects in Australia and is deemed a security risk by the U.S. Congress on the grounds that its equipment could be used for spying.

Rick and Mary Todd attended the inquiry for several days before pulling out and leaving Singapore, saying they had lost confidence in the system investigating their son's death.

"What has made us say that we can no longer stay here is the testimony from the beginning, saying they are always only looking at suicide, never murder," Rick Todd told Reuters Television on May 22. "The outcome was pre-determined."

During the inquiry, Singapore government lawyers presented forensic reports that showed Todd died by hanging, based on injuries around his neck. Their findings were backed by two U.S. pathologists, who said the manner of death pointed to suicide.

The parents walked out of the hearing after a U.S. medical examiner they had hired retracted a statement that Todd had been garroted and the judge refused their request to delay testimony by another witness so they could go through it.

The Todds' belief that their son was murdered was based on documents on a hard disk drive they said they found in his apartment. Singapore disputes the Todds' account, saying police had returned the hard drive to the family after examining it.

(Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Ron Popeski)

 

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Singapore coroner rules US scientist committed suicide
AFP Updated July 9, 2013, 1:19 am

SINGAPORE (AFP) - A Singapore coroner ruled Monday that a US scientist found hanged in the city-state in 2012 committed suicide during a bout of depression and was not murdered as his family claimed.

The US government, which closely followed the case of electronics engineer Shane Todd, said the coroner's inquiry was "comprehensive, fair and transparent", but the family refused to back down.

The body of 31-year-old Todd was discovered by his girlfriend in his flat in June 2012, sparking a controversy that reached the highest levels of both governments after his parents refused to accept Singapore police findings that he killed himself.

The family, citing documents found in Todd's computer files, insists he was working on a secret project with military applications and was murdered as part of a conspiracy involving a Chinese technology firm and a state-linked Singapore research institute.

"The evidence before me instead compels me to find, beyond reasonable doubt, that the deceased had committed suicide by hanging himself," state coroner Chay Yuen Fatt said in his verdict, adding that there was no evidence of foul play.

The investigation was limited by law to the cause of death and the verdict did not address the family's conspiracy claims.

In a statement on the verdict, the family questioned Singapore's police investigation methods as well as the conduct of the inquiry itself, launching a campaign website called justice4shanetodd.com to press their claim that he was killed.

"We have personally concluded that a staged suicide in Singapore will never be examined or ruled as murder no matter what signs there are of foul play," said the statement sent to AFP by the scientist's mother Mary Todd.

Witnesses earlier testified that Todd had suffered a relapse of depression, a condition he first experienced as a university student, and had repeatedly surfed websites on suicide shortly before his death.

"His psychiatric condition included suicidal ideations of an overall increasing severity over the last few months of his life, which he had masked from the people around him," the coroner said.

Todd's parents said he was murdered as part of a conspiracy involving his former employer, Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics (IME), and Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies, a firm accused by US officials of involvement in espionage.

IME and Huawei said they had held preliminary talks on a potential project with commercial applications, but they had not gone further.

The family attended the Singapore inquest in May but angrily walked out before hearings ended, saying they had "lost faith" in the proceedings.

During the hearings, their star witness, US pathologist Edward Adelstein, recanted an earlier theory that Todd was garroted with a cord in his own apartment.

Instead he presented a new scenario -- that Todd was killed by assassins who made his death look like suicide -- but offered no evidence.

In his verdict on Monday, coroner Chay rejected Adelstein's testimony, calling it "nothing short of bizarre and extremely unhelpful in the way that it detracted from the critical pathological issues before the court".

He said he did not doubt the "independence or competence" of two other US pathologists who affirmed the suicide findings.

Hours after the verdict was issued, the US embassy in Singapore said Todd's family "was given the opportunity to participate in the hearing and was represented by experienced Singapore legal counsel".

"The inquiry into Dr Todd's death was comprehensive, fair, and transparent," it said in a statement.

The death was first thrust into the spotlight after the London-based Financial Times reported in February that Todd's family suspected he was murdered because of his work on a joint IME-Huawei project involving gallium nitride, a semiconductor material with military and commercial applications.

Singapore, which has close military ties with Washington, quickly moved to dispel allegations that it had improper ties with Huawei, sharing evidence with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and expressing readiness to allow a US audit of the IME.

Singapore Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam told journalists after the verdict was issued that he did not expect US-Singapore relations to be affected by the Todd case and urged the family to accept the findings.

"Many of us are parents, we can understand the family's grief. At the same time we need the strength to face the truth, and not to make fictional and untrue statements and allegations," he said.