SINGAPORE, July 31 — US-based financial news outlet Bloomberg and its journalist have been ordered to pay S$290,000 (RM913,500) in legal costs after losing a defamation suit filed by two Singapore ministers over an article on luxury property deals.

The costs order came about two weeks after the High Court awarded Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam and Minister for Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng S$230,000 (RM724,500) each in damages.

Justice Audrey Lim ordered Bloomberg and journalist Low De Wei to pay S$145,000 (RM456,750) to each minister after a closed-door hearing on July 30, The Straits Times reported today.

The sum included S$65,000 (RM204,750) for 6½ days of trial proceedings, S$50,000 (RM157,500) in pre-trial costs and S$30,000 (RM94,500) in post-trial costs.

The lawsuit centred on a Bloomberg article published on December 12, 2024, titled “Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy”, which referred to property transactions involving Shanmugam and Tan.

The article mentioned Shanmugam’s former Queen Astrid Park home, sold to UBS Trustees for S$88 million (RM277.2 million), and Tan’s purchase of a Brizay Park bungalow for nearly S$27.3 million (RM86 million).

The Singapore newspaper reported that in Lim’s July 14 judgment that journalist Low either knew certain information in the article was false or published it without caring whether it was true.

Lim also found Bloomberg’s decision to remove the article’s paywall showed malice, as it made the article accessible to a wider audience.

“I find there was malice on the defendants’ part,” she was quoted as saying.

Lim described malice in defamation as meaning “any ill-will, spite or some wrong or improper motive”.

The judge said readers could have understood the article to suggest that the ministers had exploited a lack of checks and disclosure requirements to conduct their property transactions secretly.

She added that readers could also have understood it as suggesting the ministers had hidden their deals to avoid scrutiny, including possible money laundering concerns.