SINGAPORE - Ler Teck Siang, the doctor involved in the HIV Registry data leak that grabbed the headlines last year, lost his appeal on Friday (Aug 28) at the High Court against his conviction for drug-related offences.

The 39-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to 15 months' jail in October last year on two charges - one for injecting a drug abuser with methamphetamine for a fee and the other for possessing a drug-stained syringe.

Ler was arrested with drug abuser Sim Eng Chee at Conrad Centennial Singapore hotel on March 2, 2018, after hotel staff found drugs in Sim's hotel room and called the police.

Sim testified during Ler's trial that he had hired the doctor for "slamming" services ahead of group sex sessions with other men. Slamming is a term used to describe the injection of illicit drugs.

Ler, who denied the charges, claimed that he met Sim to change the man's wound dressing and provided only "massage services" to Sim. He said "slamming" referred to an intimate massage.

As for the syringe, Ler claimed that it was from his American former partner Mikhy Farrera-Brochez's study room.

After a nine-day trial that spanned five months, a district judge found Sim's testimony more believable and consistent with the messages exchanged between the two.

The sentence for the drug offences was ordered to run after Ler finishes serving his two-year term for helping HIV-positive Farrera-Brochez cheat the authorities into issuing a work pass.

Ler and Farrera-Brochez are the duo responsible for leaking confidential information of 14,200 people diagnosed with HIV on the Internet.

Farrera-Brochez, who worked here as a polytechnic lecturer on fake qualifications, was convicted and jailed by a United States court in September last year for extorting the Singapore Government with the stolen data.