Months after he came to Singapore to live with a local doctor he had met online and fallen in love with, Mikhy Farrera Brochez used a fake Bahamian passport to get himself tested for HIV. He tested positive and knew that he would not be allowed to get an employment pass to work in Singapore.

That kick-started a series of lies which were eventually uncovered and resulted in Brochez getting deported from Singapore - after he had managed to deceive the authorities for years with the help of his partner, Ler Teck Siang.

The most shocking twist to this story came last week when Brochez, who is no longer in Singapore, revealed the identities and details of 14,200 people with HIV.

This confidential information had allegedly been downloaded by Ler, who has been charged under the Official Secrets Act.

The Straits Times has pieced together, from court documents and other sources, the story of these two men, their tangled love affair and how it has dragged thousands of HIV-positive people into its fold.

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