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Singapore court orders damages for two ministers in Bloomberg defamation case
The High Court awarded each minister S$170,000 in general damages plus S$60,000 in aggravated damages.
The High Court in Singapore has ordered Bloomberg and one of its reporters to pay damages to two cabinet ministers after finding elements of a Bloomberg story defamatory, according to SCMP Economy.
Justice Audrey Lim awarded K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng S$230,000 each in total damages, split into S$170,000 in general damages and S$60,000 in aggravated damages.
The suits were filed in January 2025 by Shanmugam, the coordinating minister for national security, and Tan, the manpower chief, over a Bloomberg article titled “Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy.” The story discussed Shanmugam’s use of a trust structure to sell a bungalow in Queen Astrid Park and referenced Tan’s purchase of a non-caveated good class bungalow in Brizay Park.
In the written judgment released Tuesday, Justice Lim said the article would lead an ordinary reader to conclude that the system lacked checks, balances, and disclosure requirements for certain non-caveated GCB or mansion transactions, and that the ministers acted non-transparently to take advantage of that gap, while rejecting the defendants’ argument that the piece was focused on trends rather than being defamatory.