A Singapore court has ordered Bloomberg News and one of its reporters to pay S$460,000 (US$356,000) in damages to two Singaporean ministers after ruling that a 2024 article defamed them over their property transactions.
The lawsuit was filed by Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam and Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng, who argued that the Bloomberg report unfairly linked their legitimate property deals to concerns about secrecy and money laundering.
The article, titled “Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in Secrecy,” examined how some wealthy buyers of Singapore’s luxury Good Class Bungalows use trusts, shell companies, and non-caveated transactions to conceal their identities. It cited Shanmugam’s S$88 million bungalow sale through a trust and Tan’s purchase of a luxury property through a non-caveated deal as examples.
Bloomberg maintained throughout the case that the report did not suggest any wrongdoing by the ministers and that they were included only as examples of a broader trend in Singapore’s high-end property market.
However, High Court Judge Audrey Lim ruled that, when read as a whole, the article implied the ministers had taken advantage of existing regulations to conduct property transactions in a non-transparent manner and avoid scrutiny, including possible links to money laundering. The judge described these as serious allegations that harmed their personal integrity and professional reputations.
Following the ruling, the court ordered Bloomberg to remove the article from its website and awarded S$460,000 in damages to the two ministers.
Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait expressed disappointment with the verdict, saying the organization believed its reporting was accurate and served the public interest. He added that Bloomberg would respect the court’s decision while maintaining that the ministers had interpreted the article in an overly defamatory way.
The case comes amid ongoing debate over press freedom in Singapore. Authorities had previously required Bloomberg to publish a correction notice under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), although the news organization stated it stood by its reporting.
Singapore has a long history of defamation lawsuits involving government leaders and international media organizations, with officials arguing such legal actions are necessary to protect their reputations, while critics contend they have a chilling effect on press freedom and political criticism.