SINGAPORE - The writer of an opinion piece about the KTV Covid-19 cluster, published last July on the Nikkei Asia website, has admitted in a district court that he was a part of a Telegram group chat where members shared lewd images.

Wong Ming Jun, 28, pleaded guilty on Thursday (March 31) to two charges under the Films Act and one count of being in possession of the obscene pictures.

He was the last person linked to the group to be convicted.

Three others - Lincoln Anthony Fernandez, 31; Tan Yeow Chong, 40; and Yee Wing Kay, 47 - were dealt with earlier.

The KTV Covid-19 cluster was first discovered on July 12 last year and sparked investigations into matters including cases involving foreign social hostesses.

The Ministry of Health officially closed the cluster of 253 cases on Sept 8 last year.

Wong's article, titled "The institutional failures behind Singapore's latest Covid Outbreak", had stated that the KTV cluster "exposed the pernicious role of organised vice enterprises in Singapore".

It also asked why KTVs were allowed to reopen "without explanation" in 2020, adding that there was an "evident border policy loophole" with foreign sex workers being allowed to enter the country by falsely claiming familial ties.

Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam, who was aware of Wong's case that was linked to the Telegram group, then posted on Facebook, saying: "We are left to wonder if the criminal investigation against him was the reason for his diatribe based on falsehoods; and the extent to which he was doing a political hack job (his political affiliation is public). Surprising also that Nikkei will publish such an article."

Mr Shanmugam, who is also Minister for Law, added that the piece was "little more than a work of fiction".

For the current case linked to the group chat, the court heard that Wong became one of its members around November 2018.

On Oct 24, 2019, a woman made a police report, stating that its members "shared lewd and indecent photos of girls" and that it had more than 24,000 members at the time.

Police arrested Wong on Nov 6 that year and seized his laptop and mobile phone.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Bryont Chin said that the authorities later found that Wong had more than 2,000 obscene films on the devices.

He also had more than 1,400 obscene pictures on his mobile phone.

The court heard that Wong downloaded the films from the Internet.

The DPP added: "Of the... obscene static pictures, some were downloaded by (Wong) from the Internet and others were static pictures of himself, his friends, and/or his partners taken by (Wong)."

Wong had kept the films and pictures for his personal consumption and did not transmit them, the court heard.

His mitigation and sentencing will take place on April 8.