Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam said the conspiracy theory of American researcher Shane Todd being murdered in Singapore over sensitive work at the Singapore Institute of Microelectronics (IME), was based on "untruths, pure fantasy and pure imagination"

Speaking to the media on Monday afternoon after the State Coroner had delivered his finding of suicide on the case, Mr Shanmugam, who is also Law Minister, said the inquiry was fair, open and "the world can see what we have done".

He said that the Financial Times (FT) - which published a report about the case in February that was largely based on the belief of Dr Todd's family that he was murdered - should "do the honourable thing" and correct the untruths that it had reported.

This was because journalist Raymond Bonner, who was writing for the FT at the time, did not verify the facts before the story was published.

On Dr Todd's parents, who still maintain that he was murdered and who said they would take the case up with United States President Barack Obama, Mr Shanmugam said that he understood their grief but there should be "strength to face the truth".

State Coroner Chay Yuen Fatt had ruled earlier in the day that Dr Todd committed suicide by hanging.

The US Embassy in Singapore said after the decision was announced that the coroner's inquiry into Dr Todd's death was "comprehensive, fair and transparent,"

In a statement, the embassy added that its officials attended the entire inquiry and were with the Todd family during their time in Singapore. The Todds quit the inquiry on May 21 and went home to the US two days later.