SINGAPORE, April 7 — A defamation trial commenced today at Singapore’s Supreme Court building, involving two cabinet ministers and the financial news provider Bloomberg. The ministers are K. Shanmugam, who oversees home affairs, and Tan See Leng, who oversees manpower.
According to The Straits Times, Tan See Leng entered the courtroom a little past 9.30am. K. Shanmugam arrived approximately 15 minutes later.
The legal dispute originates from a December 12, 2024 Bloomberg article. The piece carried the headline Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy and discussed good class bungalow (GCB) transactions.
In the ministers’ view, the article was understood to have falsely claimed that they had exploited the absence of checks, balances, or disclosure requirements to carry out their property dealings in a non-transparent way.
On January 6, 2025, each minister filed a separate claim against the US media organisation and the journalist who wrote the story, Low De Wei.
Low De Wei, who is also being sued by both ministers, reached the court building at around 9.10am. He was accompanied by his legal team and by senior executive editor John Fraher.
The contested article made reference to two distinct GCB transactions. One involved K. Shanmugam’s use of a trust structure to sell a bungalow in the Queen Astrid Park area. The other involved Tan See Leng’s purchase of a GCB in Brizay Park without lodging a caveat. These were cited among other examples of landed property deals.
A caveat is a legal document. A property buyer may submit it to the Singapore Land Authority to register an interest in a property and to prevent other people from buying that property.
On December 16, 2024, both ministers stated that they regarded the article as libellous and that they would pursue legal action against Bloomberg.
