Singapore to allow FBI inspection of research institute linked to Huawei

US officials will be allowed to inspect the work of a research institute linked to a Chinese telecoms firm that Washington suspects of espionage, Singapore's foreign ministry said yesterday.

Foreign minister K. Shanmugam told officials on a visit to the US capital this week that no improper transfer of technology took place between the Institute of Microelectronics and Huawei Technologies, the ministry said.

The IME was thrust into the spotlight last month after a report cast doubt on the apparent suicide of a former researcher, US electronics engineer Shane Todd, who was found hanged at his Singapore flat in June 2012. Todd's family says he may have been murdered because of a project involving state-linked IME and Huawei, but both have said talks on did not progress beyond preliminary stages.

The ministry said Shanmugam had stated in Washington that the IME was "subject to rigorous internal audits and there had been no illegal transfers of technology".

He also reiterated Singapore's pledge to share evidence in the Todd case with the FBI.

Shanmugam said "we are very happy for a US team to come down and look at the [IME] projects, and it will be very clear that there was no transfer of technology".

Todd's parents dispute a Singaporean autopsy report that he committed suicide, saying they found computer files linking their son's work to Huawei.