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Singapore Ex-PM’s Brother Must Pay S$400,000 for Defamation

Nurin Sofia and Philip J. Heijmans

24 May 2024 at 3:39 am·2-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Singapore’s High Court ordered the estranged brother of former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to pay S$400,000 ($295,800) for defaming two ministers.

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Lee Hsien Yang must pay S$200,000 in damages each to Law Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, according to a Singapore High Court ruling on Friday.

The ministers had sued Lee and demanded he withdraw allegations made in a Facebook post in July for claims they received preferential treatment for renting colonial black-and-white state bungalows. They also sought damages, which would be donated to charity. Lee has said his comments were misinterpreted.

The defamatory allegations are of the “gravest kind” and go against the officials’ personal integrity, reputation and honor, Justice Goh Yihan wrote. Lee also accused the ministers of “making false claims and of demanding a false apology,” the judge said.

The government issued Lee a fake news notice in July, directing him to correct the post. In November, the court granted injunctions, preventing him from making defamatory statements against Shanmugam and Balakrishnan.

An earlier review ordered by the former premier found no evidence of corruption or criminal wrongdoing by the two ministers.

Lee, who mainly resides in the UK, did not defend himself in court. Lee must also pay S$51,000 each in legal costs to the ministers.

“The facts are the facts,” Lee said in response to a Bloomberg News request to comment on the ruling. The ministers “declined offers to take this to a London court or an independent international tribunal,” he said, adding he will not appeal the decision.

Singapore has taken a tougher stance on misinformation posted online including passing the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act in 2019.

Discord among the Lee siblings has simmered for years since the death of their father and Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 2015.

(Updates with Lee Hsien Yang’s comment in paragraph eight.)

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