Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's elder statesman, has defended the secrecy of the government's powerful investment agencies in spite of demands that they become more accountable in the wake of Temasek Holdings' troubled takeover of Shin Corp, the Thai telecoms group.

“To the outside world, curious to know the inner workings of Temasek, of the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore, it's unnecessary secrecy. But we have reasons for that. Some we're prepared to disclose, some we're not,” he said.