Lee Hsien Yang pays S$619,335 to 2 ministers for defamation, Shanmugam responds to his 'antics'

Shanmugam responded by reiterating that the damages Lee paid will be donated to charity.

By

Julia Yee

October 01, 2024, 04:08 PM

Lee Hsien Yang has paid more than S$619,335 in total for defamation to law and home affairs minister K Shanmugam and foreign affairs minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

He revealed this in a Facebook post on Sep. 29.

Various points made in his post have since been rebutted by the two ministers.

Shanmugam wrote on Oct. 1: "Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s Facebook post of Sep. 29, 2024 shows that he will say anything."

He titled his response: "Hsien Yang and his antics".

This was after Lee wrote: "It is unfortunate that the ministers chose not to pursue the case in the English courts."

Lee previously wrote that the ministers should have sued him in England instead of in Singapore.

"Still not an answer": Shanmugam

In response, Shanmugam and Vivian wrote: "We responded by pointing out that we sued for his libels published in Singapore, and which were primarily meant for, and concerned, Singaporeans. He had no answer."

"Now, he says that 'it is unfortunate that the ministers chose not to pursue the case in the English courts'. That is still not an answer."

Lee was a no show in court

The ministers went on to state that the ministers had urged Lee to cross-examine them and be cross-examined himself, "in the full view of everyone".

This was so that Lee could "show Singapore, and the rest of the world, that he is right and [the ministers] are wrong".

"However, on the first day of the trial when we took the stand, ready to be cross-examined, he was a no show, deciding not to take us on."

The High Court ultimately found that Lee falsely defamed Vivian and Shanmugam, and ordered him to pay damages of S$200,000 to each minister.

Lee did not appeal.

"If a defendant persistently chooses not to respond to a claim, he cannot complain that he could not defend himself against such a claim," the judge said.

"Extraordinary" claims

Lee was found to have been guilty of defaming the ministers after publishing a post on Jul. 23, 2023, alleging that they had acted corruptly and received preferential treatment from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) regarding their Ridout Road rentals.

Lee claimed that the S$619,335.53 paid to the ministers was "equivalent to 13.6 months rental for the two Ridout houses".

According to Lee, his "significant asset in Singapore" was 38 Oxley Road, which had been his father Lee Kuan Yew's family home.

Lee said he paid the ministers in order to honour his late father's "wishes in connection with his home".

He added that he also wished to allow his sister Wei Ling, who was ill, to continue to stay in the house.

To Shanmugam and Vivian, Lee's aforementioned claims were "extraordinary".

On 38 Oxley Road

The ministers said Lee was aware that the defamation cases had nothing to do with Lee Kuan Yew.

"They also have nothing to do with 38 Oxley Road, which [Lee] carefully describes as his 'significant asset in Singapore'," they stated.

"We did not once say that we intended to enforce our judgments on 38 Oxley Road."

The ministers added that Lee "conveniently omitted" to mention that he owned at least one other asset in Singapore ,"based on publicly available information".

The value of this asset would have been "more than sufficient" to pay off Lee's debt.

"If he did not pay on the judgment, that asset could have been subject to enforcement."

Shanmugam and Vivian reiterated that the damages would be donated to charity, despite Lee's claims that it could cover 13.6 months' rental for the Ridout houses.