SINGAPORE, May 2 — Defamatory allegations made by Mr Lee Hsien Yang against Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan over the rental of Ridout Road bungalows ”are of the gravest kind”, said lawyers for the two ministers.

They were making their opening statement on Thursday (May 5) in an ongoing suit by the two ministers against Mr Lee. The High Court hearing was to determine the level of damages to be awarded to Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan.

In November last year, the court issued a "default judgement” in favour of the ministers in their defamation lawsuit against Mr Lee after Mr Lee failed to participate in the proceedings.

The level of damages sought by the ministers was not specified in the opening statement submitted by their team of lawyers led by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh.

Mr Singh told reporters outside court after the hearing that they are leaving it to the court to determine the damages amount.

Justice Goh Yihan on Thursday asked the lawyers to make further written submissions to the court for their closing statement to clarify some questions he had about their opening statement.

The suit arose from Mr Lee’s online comments on July 23, 2023 about the rental of separate bungalows by each of the ministers in Ridout Road.

He had written on Facebook that the "two ministers have leased state-owned mansions from the agency that one of them controls, felling trees and getting state-sponsored renovations”.

Mr Lee wrote the post after the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) stated a month earlier that there had been no evidence of wrongdoing or preferential treatment given to the two ministers.

Mr Lee did not comply with requests made by the ministers through their lawyers to apologise, withdraw his allegations and pay damages that they would donate to charity.

In November, Justice Goh Yihan ruled in favour of the two ministers, ordering Mr Lee to pay the costs for both ministers.

Both Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan attended the hearing on Thursday, which lasted for around 20 minutes.

Both ministers took to the stand briefly to affirm changes they had made in their affidavits, which were not read out in court.

Neither Mr Lee nor any legal representative for him was in attendance.

When asked by the court, Mr Singh confirmed that Mr Lee had been informed on a few occasions of the dates and timings of the hearing on Thursday.

Allegations of ‘the gravest kind’

In the written opening statement, the claimants’ lawyers set out several factors for the courts to consider in determining the extent of the damages to be awarded to Mr Shanmugam and Dr Balakrishnan: