Singapore high court orders Bloomberg, its employee to pay nearly USD 178,000 in defamation lawsuit

Singapore, Jul 14 (PTI) The Singapore High Court on Tuesday ordered the Bloomberg news organisation and one of its reporters to pay SGD 230,000 (USD 177,853) in damages to two cabinet ministers in a defamation lawsuit, local media reported. The case was filed by ministers K Shanmugam and Tan See Leng last year over an article published in 2024 about their property deals. The article titled “Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy” mentioned transactions involving Good Class Bungalows (GCBs) in Singapore. The judge 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, the Strait Times reported. A non-caveated transaction in Singapore's real-estate context is a property sale where the buyer does not lodge a formal legal notice, known as a caveat, with the Singapore Land Authority to publicly flag their interest in the property. It is typically aimed at streamlining business processes by eliminating the delays and administrative hassles. The Bloomberg article mentioned about the ministers’ property deals in 2023 – the sale of Shanmugam’s former house in the Queen Astrid Park area to UBS Trustees for SGD 88 million and Tan’s non-caveated purchase of a bungalow in Brizay Park for nearly SGD 27.3 million. The article, when read as a whole, linked the ministers' transactions with claims about secrecy, opacity and money laundering, creating a defamatory impression, said Justice Lim. She 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. The Reynolds Defence has its origin in a landmark UK libel case: Reynolds vs. Times Newspapers. It went on to become a media law principle that protects journalists from defamation lawsuits when reporting false or damaging statements, provided the story is a matter of public interest and the reporting was deemed responsible and fair. "The broader narrative of how wealthy individuals in Singapore use non-caveated transactions and trust structures to keep their dealings secret or 'off-radar' was the cover devised to carry that story," Justice Lim added. The article mentioned a SGD 3 billion money laundering scandal and how criminals of Chinese origin linked to this case were convicted, jailed and deported. It then named ministers Tan and Shanmugam and their respective GCB transactions, according to the Channel News Asia (CNA) report. Bloomberg and its reporter Low De Wei contested the claims, saying the article was about broader trends in Singapore's GCB market rather than about the ministers personally, or any wrongdoing on their part, the report added. In a 71-page judgment, Justice Lim said the test for determining the natural and ordinary meaning of offending words in a defamation action is well-settled. According to CNA, courts in defamation cases determine meanings based on ordinary readers' common sense and general knowledge. The makers' intent and the claimants' understanding remain irrelevant to final legal outcomes. PTI GS SKS ABD SKS