Singapore court orders Bloomberg to pay $356,000 to ministers in defamation case

A Singapore court has ordered Bloomberg and one of its reporters to pay S$460,000 to two ministers who sued them for defamation over a 2024 article referencing their property transactions.

• The judge found that the article, when read as a whole, implied wrongdoing by the ministers by mentioning secrecy and money laundering alongside their property deals.
• The ministers, K Shanmugam and Tan See Leng, sued over the article, which they argued unfairly associated their transactions with opaque deals by other wealthy buyers.
• Bloomberg and reporter Low De Wei argued the article did not imply wrongdoing and listed the ministers as "newsworthy examples" of bungalow deals.
• Singaporean authorities separately ordered Bloomberg to publish a correction notice on the article under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.

Latest developments

• The court has awarded each minister S$230,000 in general and aggravated damages, totaling S$460,000.
• Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief expressed disappointment and defended the reporting but did not confirm an appeal.