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SINGAPORE: The High Court on Monday (May 11) ordered The Online Citizen’s (TOC’s) editor, Mr Terry Xu, to pay over S$154,000 (US$121,000) in costs and disbursements to two ministers for a defamation case.<\/p>\n
This is on top of the S$420,000 Mr Xu has to pay Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng in total for defaming them in an article about transactions they made involving Good Class Bungalows (GCBs).<\/p>\n
The figure of over S$154,000 comprises S$78,000 in costs and more than S$76,000 in disbursements.<\/p>\n
Costs refer to expenses such as the lawyers’ professional fees, while disbursements refer to out-of-pocket expenses incurred by a law firm on behalf of a client in dealing with a case, such as printing or filing fees.<\/p>\n
The ministers’ lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, on Monday told the court that his firm had sent emails to Mr Xu on submissions on costs and information on the court hearing.<\/p>\n
Mr Xu, who relocated to Taiwan after being sentenced separately for criminally defaming Cabinet members, did not attend the hearing.<\/p>\n
TOC had published the defamatory article in December 2024 titled “Bloomberg: Nearly half of 2024 GCB transactions lack public record, raising transparency concerns”.<\/p>\n
This was off the back of a Bloomberg article, titled “Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in Secrecy”, which was published on Dec 12, 2024.<\/p>\n
The TOC article cites Bloomberg’s reporting that Dr Tan purchased a GCB in Brizay Park in 2023 for S$27.3 million.<\/p>\n
It said that this was not Dr Tan’s first foray into the GCB market, adding that the Business Times reported that he acquired a GCB along Peirce Road for nearly S$24 million while serving as managing director and CEO of IHH Healthcare.<\/p>\n
The offending words in the article also include paragraphs about a transaction by Mr Shanmugam, where he sold a GCB in Queen Astrid Park for S$88 million.<\/p>\n
In another offending paragraph, the article claimed that the “intertwining of political figures with opaque real estate practices underscores the need for stronger safeguards”.<\/p>\n
Mr Xu did not attend the defamation hearings against him.<\/p>\n
Justice Audrey Lim found him liable for defamation and said he had published the material “recklessly, without considering or caring whether it was true”.<\/p>\n
He had also refused to take the article down or apologise, CNA previously reported.<\/p>\n
The S$420,000 figure Mr Xu has to pay comprises S$210,000 per minister. This, in turn, consists of S$160,000 in general damages and S$50,000 in aggravated damages.<\/p>\n
The ministers also sued Bloomberg and its reporter Low De Wei for their original article.<\/p>\n
The trial was heard over seven days in April, and closing submissions are expected to be heard in the High Court on May 22.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n