SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s law and home affairs minister and its manpower minister have filed defamation lawsuits against Bloomberg News and one of its reporters, according to a schedule of court hearings.
Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng had threatened legal action in December, saying at the time a Bloomberg report on Singapore real estate that mentioned them by name was libellous.
Bloomberg declined to comment on the lawsuits on Wednesday. The lawsuits will be heard at the Supreme Court on March 3.
Singapore’s government ordered Bloomberg in December to issue a “correction direction” on the report, under the country’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act.
The media company complied and updated the original story with a notice saying the correction direction had been published “under threat of sanction” and it stood by its reporting.
Senior figures in the ruling People’s Action Party, including former Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong, have filed successful defamation lawsuits against media and political opponents.
Shanmugam and Tan are represented by lawyer Davinder Singh, a former ruling party parliamentarian who has represented former premiers in defamation suits.
Singh did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
(Reporting by Xinghui Kok, additional reporting by Bing Hong Lok; Editing by Martin Petty and Neil Fullick)
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