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SINGAPORE, Dec 2 (AFP) - A Singaporean academic who shared the same name and looked eerily like another man facing sexual charges was forced publicly to assure friends and colleagues that he was not the same person, the Sunday Times said.

Business administration lecturer Koh Seng Kee, a 43-year-old father of three, sensed there was something wrong when people began staring at him and a student sent him an email last week wishing him all the best "for your trial".

Someone even asked his daughter in church if he was Koh Seng Kee, a 48-year-old former pastor on trial for molesting a woman.

To complicate things, he had just resigned from the National University of Singapore to join another school, adding fuel to the speculation.

"I then realised that it was no longer a laughing matter," said the lecturer, who posed for the Sunday Times holding a newspaper cutting showing the uncanny resemblance between him and his namesake.

"I have the same thin lips, hairstyle and spectacles," he told the newspaper.

Koh sent emails to students, colleagues, friends and acquaintances to set the record straight, and was encouraged by their response. People no longer felt awkward talking to him.

It was not the first time his name has caused problems for the lecturer in the predominantly ethnic Chinese country, where Koh is a common family name.

He once had trouble selling his flat because a namesake was on a list of bankrupt people.

"My children joked that I should change my name. What are the odds of such a coincidence like this happening twice?" he said with a laugh. 

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