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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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg and Mr Low are jointly and severally liable for the defamation, which means they are collectively responsible for the entire sum owed.<\/p>\n