A Singapore court has ordered Bloomberg News and one of its reporters to pay S$460,000 ($356,000) in damages after ruling that a 2024 article on luxury property transactions defamed two cabinet ministers.
According to the BBC, the case was brought by Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng over Bloomberg's report, "Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in Secrecy."
The article explored how some buyers of Singapore's ultra-luxury Good Class Bungalows used trusts and shell companies in property transactions, structures that can obscure ownership. It referenced Shanmugam's sale of a bungalow for S$88 million through a trust and Tan's purchase of a bungalow worth about S$27 million.
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Bloomberg argued during the trial that the ministers were cited solely as "newsworthy examples" of prominent property deals and that the report did not suggest they had engaged in any wrongdoing. The news organisation also said the story had undergone extensive fact-checking and that both ministers were approached for comment before publication.
The court disagreed, holding that the article, when read in its entirety, conveyed the impression that the ministers were connected to questionable practices because it also discussed secrecy and money laundering, the BBC reported.
The ministers argued that the report unfairly linked their lawful property transactions to allegations of opaque financial dealings. Shanmugam said the article was deliberately framed to imply he had been involved in "shady deals."
Days after the story was published in December 2024, Singapore's government directed Bloomberg to publish a correction notice under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).
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Bloomberg complied with the order while stating it was doing so "under threat of sanction" and maintained that it stood by its reporting.
The two ministers had also won a separate defamation case against the editor of independent news outlet The Online Citizen, whose commentary was based on Bloomberg's article.
Singapore's leaders have frequently used defamation lawsuits to challenge critics and media organisations, arguing that such legal action is necessary to safeguard their reputations. Critics, however, say the lawsuits risk discouraging political criticism and public debate.
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