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The family of an American scientist found hanged in Singapore last year dismissed on Tuesday the city-state’s findings that he committed suicide as “a sham and a cover-up” for a murder.
“I am not surprised by the state’s findings because the state refused to consider murder, they only investigated suicide,” Mary Todd, mother of the late electronics engineer Shane Todd, told AFP by email from the United States.
The Singapore government, summing up its position after two weeks of public hearings in May, on Monday rejected the family’s conspiracy theory, saying Todd killed himself in June last year in his own apartment after a bout of depression.
“If they had nothing to hide, they would not care one way or the other what happened to Shane. Sadly, the inquest was never an open, non-adversarial, fact-finding inquiry as promised but was a sham and a cover-up,” the mother said.

The government’s findings were presented to an independent coroner, whose verdict on the cause of death is scheduled to be handed down on July 8.
Todd’s family stormed out of the hearings on May 21, saying they had “lost faith” in the proceedings.
But their chief Singaporean lawyer said the family was still considering whether to file a formal summary of its position to the coroner, whose verdict cannot be appealed against.
In her message to AFP, Mary Todd repeated claims that her son’s former employer, Singapore’s state-linked Institute of Microelectronics (IME), was more closely involved with China’s Huawei Technologies than stated at the hearings.
In earlier statements to the inquest, Todd’s parents said that before he died, the researcher expressed fears that he was being made to compromise US national security in a secret project involving the two companies.
IME and Huawei say they only held preliminary talks on a potential commercial venture and reject the family’s allegations they worked on a clandestine project involving Todd with military applications.
A US congressional committee last year labelled Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese telecom firm, as potential security threats that should be excluded from US government contracts and barred from acquiring US firms.
During the hearings, the Todd family’s star witness, US pathologist Edward Adelstein, recanted an earlier theory that Todd was garroted with a cord in his own apartment.
He presented a new theory: Todd was killed by assassins who used a stun gun before choking his neck and then hanging him to make it look like a suicide.
But Adelstein presented no evidence and two other US pathologists testified in support of Singapore police findings that Todd hanged himself from his bathroom door.
On Monday, lawyers for the Singapore government cited suicide notes left by Todd on his laptop computer, a psychiatrist’s testimony that he suffered from depression, and a browsing history showing he accessed suicide websites.
They said the scientist’s depression had likely worsened in the months before his death because he did not complete a prescribed course of anti-depressants or schedule follow-up appointments with his psychiatrist.


Family of US scientist Shane Todd call Singapore inquest a 'sham'

The parents of Shane Todd, Mary, front left, and Rick Todd, right, leave the Subordinate Courts of Singapore. Photo: AP

Shane Todd

Suicide 'clear' in death of US scientist, Singapore inquest told

Senior State Counsel Tai Wei Shyong talks to media outside Singapore's Subordinate Courts. Coroner's inquiry into the death of American engineer Shane Todd in Singapore went into the closing submissions. Photo: Xinhua

Singapore government says US scientist death was suicide

Shane Todd, a high-tech researcher who died in Singapore in June, 2012. Photo: AFP

Rick and Mary Todd speak to the media in Singapore in May 2013. Photo: Reuters

Shane Todd. Photo: AFP

Shane Todd’s family seeks US Congress, Thai expert’s help 

Rick Todd (centre) and his wife Mary (left) chat with their family lawyer Gloria James-Civetta at the departure hall of Changi International Airport in Singapore on Thursday. Photo: AFP

US experts reject murder theory in Shane Todd's death in Singapore

Eric Watnik (cente), spokesman for the US embassy in Singapore, waits for the Todd family, which did not show up, at the coroner's inquiry on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

US scientist Shane Todd’s family walks out of Singapore inquest

Rick Todd (right) and his wife Mary walk out during lunch break from the Subordinate courts in Singapore on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

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