Singapore ministers’ defamation suit against Bloomberg for property article starts

AdvertisementSingaporeThis Week in AsiaPeopleSingapore ministers’ defamation suit against Bloomberg for property article startsCabinet ministers K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng are suing Bloomberg over an article mentioning their personal property deals 3-MIN READ3-MIN ListenJean IauPublished: 10:07am, 7 Apr 2026Updated: 10:11am, 7 Apr 2026Singapore cabinet ministers K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng hauled financial news outlet Bloomberg and one of its reporters to court on Tuesday for defamation over an article that mentioned their personal property transactions.According to statements of claim filed in the High Court, Coordinating Minister for National Security Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan said parts of the article, titled “Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy”, were false, baseless and calculated to disparage and impugn them. Bloomberg and the reporter who wrote the article, Low De Wei, have denied this through their lawyers. The trial is set to run from Tuesday to April 16. The Supreme Court building in Singapore. Photo: Ronan O’ConnellThe article, published in December 2024, referred to non-caveated purchases of good-class bungalows in Singapore. A caveat refers to a legal document buyers submit to the Singapore Land Authority to register interest in a property. AdvertisementIt reported that Shanmugam used a trust structure to sell a bungalow in the affluent neighbourhood of Queen Astrid Park and mentioned Tan’s non-caveated purchase of a good-class bungalow in nearby Brizay Park. The ministers in January last year filed separate defamation suits against the media organisation and Low, a real estate reporter, arguing that the statements in the article were understood to mean that they had “taken advantage of there being no checks and balances or disclosure requirements” by transacting properties in “a non-transparent manner”. AdvertisementThey alleged that the statements also implied they sought to hide the deals to avoid scrutiny and hinted at the possibility of money laundering. AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:001.00x