Charting the teacher-student relationship between Tey Tsun Hang and Darinne Ko

10 April 2013

Were part of the statements recorded by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) false? It seems that’s what National University of Singapore (NUS) law professor Tey Tsun Hang was trying to imply.

According to his statement made on 5 April 2012, Tey told the CPIB that his former student Darinne Ko deserved poorer grades than what he had given her.

In the statement recorded by CPIB officer Wilson Khoo, he said Ko was a "borderline failure” and should not have gotten a "B" grade for her Personal Property Law paper. However, Tey denied this during the cross-examination of Khoo on Wednesday.

Tey said he could not have used the words "borderline failure" and said there's no such category used at NUS.

He also told the court that he could not have said something so nonsensical, when referring to his statement on when Ko revealed her pregnancy. According to the statement, he told Ko not to abort the child as he wanted "to have another child".

In the same statement to CPIB, Tey also admitted to receiving ten items from Ko, but on Wednesday, he said that six of those items were not related to the charges.

Tey claimed that he was so traumatised that he told CPIB they were all from Ko.