Bloomberg lets Singapore ministers’ defamation ruling stand
What’s next: Bloomberg and reporter Low De Wei still owe S$460,000 in damages plus S$423,000 in costs after the appeal window closed.
Bloomberg did not appeal a Singapore High Court ruling that found it defamed Senior Minister K. Shanmugam and Trade and Industry Minister Tan See Leng in a December 2024 article about Good Class Bungalow transactions. The appeal deadline passed two days before Shanmugam disclosed the outcome in a Facebook post on Saturday. In July, the court ordered Bloomberg and reporter Low De Wei to pay S$230,000 to each minister, plus S$423,000 in costs and disbursements. Justice Audrey Lim ruled the article, read as a whole, linked the ministers’ property deals to secrecy and money laundering allegations and created a defamatory impression. The judge also rejected Bloomberg’s public-interest defense under the Reynolds standard, saying it is not part of Singapore law.