SINGAPORE – The Online Citizen (TOC) chief editor Terry Xu failed to turn up for a High Court hearing on Feb 26, held to determine the amount of damages over
defamation suits filed by two Cabinet ministers.
Mr Xu, who had earlier failed to file a defence in the
defamation suits over a Bloomberg article
on property transactions published by TOC, did not have a legal representative in court.
Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam and Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng, who attended the hearing, took the stand briefly to confirm the affidavits they had filed in court.
On the stand, both Mr Shanmugam, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security, and Dr Tan answered a few clarification questions from Justice Audrey Lim regarding the dates of their ministerial appointments.
Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who is acting for both ministers, submitted a written opening statement, which did not specify the amount of damages sought.
In the opening statement, Mr Singh noted that the effect of Mr Xu’s failure to file a defence is that the facts in the ministers’ statements of claim are taken to be admitted by the defendant.
Mr Singh contended that Mr Xu’s defamatory allegations were “of the gravest kind”.
