Ridout Road rentals

[6] Jeyaretnam also called for the Singapore Land Authority (SLA)―an agency led by Shanmugam alongside Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong[7]―to "shed some light on the auction process".

"[9] Jeyaretnam later added that he had heard "rumours" about the SLA's transactions with interior design company Livspace, whose chief executive officer was Shanmugam's son.

[17] In his independent review,[5] Teo found that there was "no abuse of power or conflict of interest resulting in the ministers gaining any unfair advantage or privilege".

[1] Among other things, he noted that Shanmugam's identity as the prospective tenant of 26 Ridout Road had not been disclosed to the SLA during their negotiations,[16] while Balakrishnan's monthly rent was "comparable to other properties of 'average' condition at that time.

"[19] As the investigation of the rentals was underway, Shanmugam stated that he had "nothing to hide",[11] while Balakrishnan remarked that he looked forward to the publication of "all relevant facts and findings before we have a full debate in Parliament.

[20] At the 3 July parliamentary sitting, Prime Minister Lee said that both Shanmugam and Balakrishnan "retain my full confidence",[2] and added that "(t)his government has not, and will never, tolerate any compromise or departure from the stringent standards of honesty, integrity and incorruptibility that Singaporeans expect of us.

"[7] Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh said that "I don't believe anybody is making an allegation that ... somebody is corrupt in the system", but argued that "it is quite incongruous, in the eyes of many, for a minister to be asking a civil servant details which pertain to information for his personal use.