Shanmugam and Tan See Leng’s defamation suits against TOC’s Terry Xu headed for pre-trial session

Defamation suits filed by Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng against the chief editor of The Online Citizen (TOC) have moved to the next stage, with court conferences slated for April 1.

Such pre-trial conferences are held to consider issues like the progress of a case, resolve administrative matters and discuss possible settlements.

They are usually conducted within six to eight weeks of writs being served.

Mr Shanmugam and Dr Tan had filed their claims against TOC’s Mr Xu Yuanchen, better known as Terry Xu, on Jan 6.

Checks by The Straits Times on March 25 showed that the ministers are represented by a team of lawyers from Davinder Singh Chambers, including Mr Davinder Singh and Mr David Fong.

Court filings show Mr Xu is unrepresented.

Mr Shanmugam and Dr Tan had indicated in December 2024 that they would act against media outlets for publishing statements that the ministers considered libellous concerning their property transactions.

The statements appeared 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 Mr Low De Wei, 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 Mr Shanmugam and Dr Tan.

In identical Facebook posts on Dec 16, the ministers said Bloomberg’s article was libellous. They added that they would 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. 

Mr Shanmugam and Dr Tan filed defamation suits against Bloomberg and Mr Low on Jan 6.

A team of lawyers from Davinder Singh Chambers, including Mr Singh, Mr Fong and Mr Bryan Wong, are representing the ministers in the civil matter against Bloomberg and its journalist.

Following the publication of the article, correction directions were issued against Bloomberg under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act on Dec 23, 2024.

The Ministry of Law said then that 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 TOC were also issued correction orders for carrying in part or in full the statements published in the Bloomberg piece.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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