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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has been awarded S$210,000 in damages for two defamation suits he filed over an article published on The Online Citizen (TOC), according to court documents seen by Mothership.

PM Lee had separately sued TOC chief editor Terry Xu and Rubaashini Shunmuganathan, the author of the article that was published on Aug. 15, 2019.

Rubaashini, a Malaysian, wrote an article concerning PM Lee's dispute with his siblings Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang, over their family home at 38 Oxley Road. The article was subsequently published by TOC.

According to court findings, Rubaashini had failed to verify the content of her article, and drafted the article "merely based on Xu's instructions and within the span of a few hours".

The verdict

Justice Audrey Lim found the article to be defamatory, and said that the libel against PM Lee was "grave and serious".

In a 60-page judgement, the judge stated that "the defamatory remarks do not merely attack his (PM Lee's) personal integrity, character and reputation, but that of the PM, and damage his moral authority to lead Singapore".

The judge also granted an injunction that was sought by PM Lee, restraining Mr Xu from further publishing or disseminating the false and defamatory allegations.

PM Lee to donate the damages awarded

PM Lee was awarded a total of S$210,000 for the defamation suit against Xu, comprising of S$160,000 in general damages and S$50,000 in aggravated damages.

According to court documents, the judge described the amount as a "fair and reasonable sum to compensate him of his injury and vindicate his reputation".

In the lawsuit against Rubaashini, PM Lee was reportedly awarded S$160,000 in general damages.

However, the judge further noted that PM Lee should not be doubly compensated, as the charges concern the same article. Hence, the total sum awarded to PM Lee remains at S$210,000.

Responding to media queries, PM Lee's press secretary Chang Li Lin said, "The judgement has been made. As usual, Prime Minister Lee intends to donate to charity the damages he has been awarded".

According to the judge, aggravated damages were not awarded against Rubaashini, as she did not contest her liability or raise a "reckless justification defence", unlike Xu. Rubaashini also did not aggravate the injury to PM Lee after the article was published, the judge added.

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Image from Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images and Terry Xu