Tang's wife prevented from leaving Singapore

Tang's wife prevented from leaving Singapore

SINGAPORE (Agencies): The wife of a Singapore opposition politician being sued by government ministers has been blocked from leaving the country, the Home Affairs Ministry said yesterday.

The ministry said in a statement that it had canceled on Monday all the passports of Teo Siew Har, the wife of Workers' Party activist Tang Liang Hong, whose tax affairs the inland revenue was investigating.

It said the Comptroller of Income Tax suspected Teo may have been involved in the administration of Tang's tax matters.

"The Comptroller was of the view that Madam Teo should not be allowed to leave Singapore until (the inland revenue) has completed its investigations," the statement said.

Tang was an unsuccessful candidate in a hotly-contested constituency in Singapore's general election on Jan. 2, in which the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) won 81 of 83 parliamentary seats.

He is being sued for defamation by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and nine other members of the PAP for comments he is alleged to have made during the general election campaign.

Lawyers for the PAP leaders obtained a court injunction on Monday to block disposal of assets belonging to Tang and Teo worldwide unless they set aside up to S$11.2 million (US$7.94 million) for possible damages and legal costs arising from the defamation suits.

Tang told Reuters that his wife was stopped by immigration authorities on Monday when she tried to leave for Malaysia.

"My wife was denied exit, according to my information, and her passport was not returned," Tang said by telephone from London, where he has been consulting senior lawyers.

Tang said tax authorities had also raided his family home on Monday and seized various documents.

The Straits Times newspaper said yesterday that the PAP leaders had issued fresh suits against Tang over comments he made to media last week that the legal action against him was designed "to bury him politically and financially".

Tang's counsel, Joshua Jeyaretnam, who is also leader of the Workers' Party, said he had no knowledge of the latest suits and said they had not been served if they had been issued.

During the campaign Goh had called Tang a "Chinese chauvinist" dangerous to Singapore's racial harmony. Tang denied the charges and filed police reports saying the allegations were groundless and intended to harm his reputation.

Meanwhile Tang himself in remarks published yesterday said he was "not running away" from the legal battle.

Tang's remarks to the afternoon daily, The New Paper, from London came after Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and nine other MPs moved to bar him from disposing of his assets.

Tang told The New Paper: "What do the ministers want -- a chance to clear their name, or my property and money? This is a huge legal battle and I need to raise the money to fight it out. I am not running away."

"They can go ahead and investigate, it's within their authority," said Tang, a lawyer who fought the election as a Workers' Party candidate. "But why at this moment?"