The Worker’s Party held a press conference earlier today, helmed by WP chief Pritam Singh and Sylvia Lim, addressing the extra-marital affair between WP member Nicole Seah and MP for Aljunied Leon Perera following the emergence of a video on 17 July suggesting an “inappropriate exchange” between the latter two.
Both Seah and Perera are married to other people and have two children of their own.
Singh said that he was made aware of the allegations sometime between late 2020 and early 2021 by Perera’s driver via Whatsapp, that both Seah and Perera had been meeting each other at restaurants and hotels very often, holding hands and hugging each other.
Singh said that at the time, there was no evidence or corroborating information to support the driver’s allegations and that he didn’t know Perera’s driver personally.
Initially denied the allegations
He then questioned Perera about the allegations and asked him if there was anything going on between him and Seah, Perera then denied the allegations, telling Singh that he was in the midst of an ongoing dispute with his driver and was about to terminate his services, and was seeking legal advice against his driver for the allegations.
The driver also shared the same information with other Central Executive Committee (CEC) members of the party over the next few months, with the party members seeking to verify the allegations with Perera, who once again denied the allegations.
The CEC then approached Seah about the allegations by the driver and she also denied the allegations of anything going on with Perera.
Eventually confessed to the affair
When the now-viral video of both Seah and Perera first emerged on 17 July, Singh said that it was the first time they saw it and he immediately got in touch with Perera and arranged a meeting with him in the afternoon, where he admitted to having an affair with Seah after the General Elections 2020.
Singh also arranged a separate meeting on the same afternoon with Seah where she also admitted to having an affair with Perera, but claimed that it had “stopped some time ago”.
Singh added that Perera told him that he should have been more “forthcoming” when approached by the WP members about the allegations.
Resignations
Both Seah and Perera have since resigned from the Workers’ Party, with Perera also resigning from his position as MP of Aljunied GRC.
Singh added that on 18 July, he received a letter of resignation from Seah; as well as Perera’s letter of resignation from the WP and informing the acting speaker of parliament that he was also resigning from his seat in Parliament.
He also added that Perera’s conduct and not being truthful when the party leadership asked him about the allegations were “unacceptable”, and that had he not offered his resignation, Singh would have recommended for Perera to be expelled from the party.
Singh added that from the moment the WP was made aware of the video, they moved as quickly as they could to get to the bottom of the matter and put things right.
Recap
According to reports by several news outlets including The Straits Times, 8world News and MustShareNews, who cited their sources; the rumoured extra-marital affair between the Workers’ Party (WP)’s Aljunied GRC Member of Parliament (MP) Leon Perera and senior WP member Nicole Seah, had allegedly begun sometime in the middle of 2020, when Perera was mentoring Seah at the time.
Both Seah and Perera are married to other people and each of them have two children of their own.
The WP was allegedly made aware of the rumoured affair sometime between late-2020 and early 2021.
The allegations came about following the emergence of a now-viral video circulating on social media, showing two people who strongly resemble both Seah and Perera having an intimate dinner with red wine, with the latter holding the former’s hand and gently stroking it.
According to the source(s) who brought up evidential text messages and spoke to ST, showing that those who were made aware of the allegations of the rumoured affair, included WP chairman Sylvia Lim and Sengkang GRC MP Jamus Lim.
WP members were allegedly made aware of the duo allegedly going into hotels together and behaving inappropriately with each other since mid-2020.
ST reported that WP chief Pritam Singh, MPs Dennis Tan and Gerald Giam were also believed to have been alerted about the allegations of marital wrongdoing.