Jeffrey George no longer SDP chairman, replaced by GE2015 candidate Wong Souk Yee

Mr Jeffrey George no longer holds any position in the SDP's central executive committee, said SDP chief Chee Soon Juan. ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG

Mr Jeffrey George, who was arrested for a drug offence last week, is no longer the chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party(SDP) since Saturday, party chief Chee Soon Juan said.

Dr Chee told reporters today that an Ordinary Members' Conference was held that day to elect a new Central Executive Committee. George, 51, was not present at the meeting and could not be contacted, he added.

As a result, Dr Wong Souk Yee, 56, an adjunct lecturer who was a candidate in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC for the Sept 11 General Election, was elected as chairman. George no longer holds any CEC position.

Dr Chee was speaking to reporters at an Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) conference where he was a panelist.

He said the conference was a routine one and had nothing to do with events surrounding George, a shipping engineer who was elected chairman in October 2013.

On Tuesday, the Central Narcotics Bureau confirmed that George had been arrested for drug-related offences and investigations are ongoing.

Dr Chee said the news ofhis arrest came as a shock, and that he had all along discharged his duties as an SDP member and leader with professionalism.

On Wednesday, Dr Chee added that he last spoke to Mr George earlier last week but there did not appear to be anything out of the ordinary.

Mr George was an election agent for Dr Chee and SDP vice-chairman John Tan in September's general election.

Dr Chee also said the party will be releasing a press statement on the new CEC soon.

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