Bloomberg, reporter ordered to pay Shanmugam, Tan See Leng S$230,000 each in damages over defamatory article
The judge found that the December 2024 article about secretive Good Class Bungalow transactions had defamed the ministers.
by Lydia Lam · CNA · JoinRead a summary of this article on FAST.
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SINGAPORE: A court has awarded Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng damages of S$230,000 (US$177,874) each for defamation by news organisation Bloomberg and its reporter, Mr Low De Wei.
In a judgment released on Tuesday (Jul 14), Justice Audrey Lim found that the December 2024 article about secretive Good Class Bungalow (GCB) transactions had defamed the ministers.
She rejected Bloomberg's argument that the article merely examined a broader trend of non-caveated GCB transactions, and that the ministers were cited only as examples.
Instead, she said the article, when read as a whole, linked the ministers' transactions with claims about secrecy, opacity and money laundering, creating a defamatory impression.
Justice Lim also rejected Bloomberg's reliance on a public interest defence known as the Reynolds defence in UK law, saying it is not part of Singapore law.
Even if it were available, the judge found that Bloomberg would not have satisfied the standard of responsible journalism and that the ministers were not given a fair opportunity to respond to the allegations ultimately published.
Bloomberg and Mr Low are jointly and severally liable for the defamation, which means they are collectively responsible for the entire sum owed.
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