Singapore ministers’ defamation suits over Bloomberg Good Class Bungalow article fixed for April hearings

SINGAPORE, Jan 9 — Defamation suits filed by Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng against Bloomberg and one of its reporters will proceed to trial in April 2026.

CNA reported that court schedules show hearings set from April 7 to April 16 next year.

The lawsuits arise from Bloomberg’s December 12, 2024 article titled “Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in Secrecy,” which discussed Good Class Bungalow transactions and mentioned both ministers.

Shanmugam and Tan say the article falsely implied they had taken advantage of gaps in property transaction transparency to conduct their dealings in a non-transparent manner, and to hide their transactions from scrutiny, including over the possibility of money laundering.

The ministers filed their suits on January 6, 2025, shortly after the government issued Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act correction directions to Bloomberg and several other outlets that reproduced or commented on the article.

According to the government’s fact checking site Factually, Bloomberg’s statements “attack the transparency of property transactions in Singapore” and misrepresented the availability of ownership records and disclosure requirements for purchasers and beneficial owners.

Bloomberg added a correction notice to its article and social media posts but said it “respectfully disagrees” with the direction and stood by its reporting.

Bloomberg and reporter Low De Wei have denied the defamation claims, arguing that the article did not allege wrongdoing by the ministers and was not defamatory.

Bloomberg said in its defence that it had “no interest or reason to, and did not in fact impugn the reputation of ministers of the Singapore government.”

Court filings show that Shanmugam and Tan are represented by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh and his team, while Bloomberg is represented by lawyers from RCLT Chambers Law Corporation, and Low is represented by Wong Thai Yong.

The December 2024 correction orders also covered several other publications that had republished or commented on Bloomberg’s article.

Factually said the claims in the Bloomberg report created the impression that Singapore lacked a robust legal and regulatory framework for property transaction transparency and anti money laundering safeguards, which the government rejected.

Shanmugam and Tan said in December 2024 that they considered the Bloomberg article “libellous” and would issue letters of demand, which preceded the filing of the suits.