Though Teh maintained his innocence, he committed suicide before being charged for the offences, on December 14. In his suicide note, Teh wrote: As a result of the suicide, the Attorney-General could not proceed with the charges, although Lee Kuan Yew responded with a condolence letter after ascertaining the cause of his death with Ministry of Health. The letter recognized his role to help modernize the construction industry and speed up the building of expressways and lessen traffic jams. On 26 Jan 1987, Lee Kuan Yew delivered a parliamentary speech by reading out the suicide note addressed to him, written by Teh. He then revealed for the first time that Teh was being investigated for accepting bribes. Lee stressed that "there is no way a Minister can avoid investigations, and a trial if there is evidence to support one." Later in the book titled "Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas", published in 1998, Lee reiterated the importance of having a system where people act in accordance with certain principles. "The purpose is not just to be righteous. The purpose is to create a system which will carry on because it has not been compromised. I didn't do that just to be righteous about Teh Cheang Wan. But if I had compromised, that is the end of the system."However, there was a subsequent investigation into the matter as a result of allegation of Chiam See Tong, the opposition MP, that there were unanswered questions into the whole episode. On 20 January 1987, the State Coroner returned a verdict of suicide due to an overdose of amytal barbiturate. In December 1987, the findings of the Commission of Inquiry were presented to the President of Singapore, however, they were not released to the public till the end the year. The entire probe lasted 31 months. Award 1976 : Meritorious Service Medal References Singapore Infopedia Teh Cheang Wan, updated 2002. 1928 births 1986 deaths Chinese emigrants to Singapore People's Action Party politicians Members of the Parliament of Singapore Members of the Cabinet of Singapore Drug-related suicides