Ministers Shanmugam, Tan See Leng say parts of Bloomberg article calculated to disparage them
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 07 Mar 2025
Author: Samuel Devaraj
Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng set out their claims in documents that were each 49 pages long.
In statements of claim filed in the High Court, ministers K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng said parts of an article Bloomberg published in 2024 were false, baseless and calculated to disparage and impugn them.
The ministers, who filed separate defamation suits against the media organisation and its journalist Low De Wei, set out their claims in documents that were each 49 pages long.
In their submissions, Bloomberg and Mr Low denied that the words complained of in the article, “Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy”, are defamatory or capable of being defamatory of Mr Shanmugam and Dr Tan.
The article, published on Dec 12, 2024, is about good class bungalow (GCB) transactions in Singapore. It made reference to non-caveated purchases of such properties.
Property buyers lodge caveats, a legal document that is submitted to the Singapore Land Authority, to register interest in a property and prevent other people from purchasing it.
In the article, the writer noted Mr Shanmugam’s use of a trust structure to sell a bungalow in the Queen Astrid Park area and Dr Tan’s non-caveated purchase of a GCB in Brizay Park.
The ministers said the statements in the article are understood to falsely mean that they “had taken advantage of there being no checks and balances or disclosure requirements” in the selling and buying of their respective properties in “a non-transparent manner”.
They added that the statements are also understood to mean that they wanted to hide the transactions and avoid scrutiny, including “about the possibility of money laundering”.
The ministers said the claims are false and baseless, and “calculated to disparage and impugn” them as well as in their respective offices as the Minister for Law and Home Affairs in Mr Shanmugam’s case, and Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Trade and Industry in Dr Tan’s.
They noted that as at the date of the statements of claim, the article could still be accessed by any person and the public in Singapore at large.
They added that Bloomberg is a very well-known media and news company worldwide that, on or around Aug 16, 2024, had over 600,000 subscribers for its media arm.
Mr Shanmugam and Dr Tan are represented by a team of lawyers from Davinder Singh Chambers including Mr Davinder Singh, Mr David Fong and Mr Bryan Wong.
Mr Remy Choo Zheng Xi, Mr Chua Shi Jie and Mr Donaven Foo from RCL Chambers Law are representing Bloomberg and Mr Low.
In court submissions, Bloomberg said that as a news platform focused on reporting relating to finance, markets and economics, it has no interest nor reason to, and did not in fact impugn the reputation of the ministers.
It said that the focus of the article was twofold – first, to highlight that purchases of GCBs which are not caveated bring some privacy benefits and typically transact at a higher price.
And second, that purchasers of GCBs who do not want their identities to be publicly discoverable use trust structures to purchase them.
Bloomberg said that at the time of the publication of the article, Mr Shanmugam’s sale of his GCB was publicly known.
It added that any reference to sellers of GCBs is incidental to the focus of the article and therefore cannot be understood to be directed at him or make any defamatory reference to him.
“(Mr Shanmugam’s) GCB transaction is mentioned in the article because the claimant’s GCB was purchased through a trust structure.
“It is just one example of a GCB purchase using a trust structure,” Bloomberg said.
The media organisation added that Dr Tan’s non-caveated purchase is just one out of four examples of such purchases used in the article.
It said that it is a matter of general knowledge in Singapore that Dr Tan is a man of means and noted that he was the chief executive officer of a publicly listed healthcare conglomerate prior to his entry into politics, with the article stating he is currently a serving minister.
“Any suggestion that the claimant purchased his property in a non-transparent manner to hide his transaction and avoid scrutiny about the possibility of money laundering would not be plausible,” Bloomberg said.
It added that Mr Low took care to ensure that the reference to Mr Shanmugam’s sale and Dr Tan’s purchase was factually accurate, very short, and presented in neutral terms.
Bloomberg was issued with a Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act correction direction on Dec 23, 2024.
The media organisation posted the correction notice on its article and its social media posts but added that it “respectfully disagrees” with it and reserves its right to appeal and challenge it.
Bloomberg added that it stood by its reporting.
Correction orders were also handed to The Edge Singapore, The Independent Singapore and The Online Citizen.
The ministers are seeking unspecified damages and costs, and an injunction that Bloomberg and Mr Low be restrained from publishing or disseminating the said false and defamatory allegations or any words to the same effect by any means whatsoever.
The suits are set for case conferences on March 11.
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
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