Singapore court orders Bloomberg, reporter, to pay $356,000 for defaming ministers

Singapore's High Court has ordered Bloomberg News and one of its reporters to pay S$460,000 (approximately $355,734) in damages for defaming two government ministers. The judgment, released Tuesday, found that an article published by Bloomberg was defamatory towards Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng.

Justice Audrey Lim stated in her judgment that the article's primary purpose was to report on the ministers' property transactions, using the broader narrative of secret dealings by wealthy individuals as a pretext. The court determined the article was targeted and demonstrated malice. Bloomberg and reporter Low De Wei are each liable for S$230,000, which includes S$170,000 in general damages and S$60,000 in aggravated damages for each minister.

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We argued at trial that our reporting was accurate and served an important public interest, and we continue to believe that the ministers have imposed an extremely strained meaning on what was a solid story.

Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait voiced disappointment with the ruling, asserting that the company stands by its reporter and the newsroom's work. "We argued at trial that our reporting was accurate and served an important public interest, and we continue to believe that the ministers have imposed an extremely strained meaning on what was a solid story," he told Reuters. Bloomberg has not yet indicated whether it plans to appeal the decision.

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The dominant purpose behind the article was to publish a story about the claimants, in particular about their (good class bungalow) transactions. The broader narrative of how wealthy individuals in Singapore use non-caveated transactions and trust structures to keep their dealings secret or 'off-radar' was the cover devised to carry that story.