The four-day trial for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's defamation suit against blogger and financial adviser Leong Sze Hian began on Tuesday (Oct 6).

PM Lee sued Leong in late 2018 over a public Facebook post that Leong shared on his page, containing a link to an article by Malaysian website The Coverage.

The article contained allegations that PM Lee helped former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak launder money in relation to Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Arrivals of PM Lee and Leong

PM Lee is in the High Court this morning and was photographed in his vehicle near the entrance of The Adelphi's carpark.

He is represented by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh from Davinder Singh Chambers, and will be cross-examined at the hearing, presided over by Justice Aedit Abdullah.

PM Lee did not speak to the media before the hearing, but he waved to the media who took pictures of him.

Leong arrived at around 9:30 am.

Leong is represented by Lim Tean, People's Voice (PV) leader and lawyer from Carson Law Chambers.

Leong and Lim ran together in the same team as PV candidates for Jalan Besar GRC in General Election 2020.

Approached by both the media and fellow supporters, Leong simply said the following, declining to elaborate further:

I'm armed only with the sword of truth.

Lim arrived to much fanfare, with supporters swarming to take photos with him.

He first apologised to his supporters that the tickets were all given out early, before saying the following:

So, we have come to the fountain of justice...to the fountain of truth. And I hope you will follow the case closely and all of you, you know will have a nice experience of this, and I look forward to defending Sze Hian, and I will be doing my very best for him as a lawyer. Thank you very much.

He proceeded to take a few group photos with Leong and their supporters:

According to CNA, members of the public had queued for tickets to the public gallery from 5.30 am.

All the tickets were issued by 7 am.

Before entering the inside of the Supreme Court, several supporters made up of mostly older men, were clapping to show support for Leong and Lim.

Lim apologised again to the men for being unable to enter, and another lady wished him well.

The hearing will take place over four days.

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Top image via Tan Guan Zhen