SINGAPORE - Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng have filed defamation suits against Bloomberg and one of its journalists. The case against the media company and reporter Low De Wei will be heard in the Supreme Court on March 3.
It comes two months after Tan and Shanmugam said they will act against Bloomberg and other media outlets for publishing statements which the ministers consider libellous concerning their property transactions.
The statements were produced in a Dec 12 Bloomberg article on good class bungalow (GCB) transactions in Singapore with the headline, "Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy".
The article was written by Low, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, has been a real estate reporter at Bloomberg since September 2021.
The article focused on GCB deals inked from January to early December 2024, as measured by value, using findings derived from data compiled by Bloomberg News and List Sotheby's International Realty.
It mentioned property transactions involving Tan and Shanmugam.
In identical Facebook posts on Dec 16, the ministers said Bloomberg's article is libellous. They added that they will be issuing letters of demand in relation to the article after taking legal advice.
They also said they would be taking similar action against others who have published libellous statements about those transactions.
Checks by The Straits Times showed that Tan and Shanmugam are represented by a team of lawyers from Davinder Singh Chambers including Davinder Singh, David Fong and Bryan Wong.
Remy Choo Zheng Xi, Chua Shi Jie and Donaven Foo from RCL Chambers Law are representing Bloomberg and Low.
Correction directions were issued against Bloomberg under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act on Dec 23, 2024, in relation to the article.
The Ministry of Law said the false statements in Bloomberg's article "attack the transparency of property transactions in Singapore" and "give the impression that Singapore does not have a robust legal framework to require disclosure of information to the Government in GCB transactions".
Bloomberg subsequently put up a correction notice on the article but said it had done so under the threat of sanction.
"Bloomberg respectfully disagrees with it, and reserves its right to appeal and challenge the Correction Direction. We stand by our reporting," it added.
The Edge Singapore, The Independent Singapore and The Online Citizen were also issued correction orders for carrying in part or in full the statements published in the Bloomberg piece.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
