Lawyers go to home of Iris Koh & Raymond Ng to seize items after they didn't pay defamation suit costs

Lawyers and a court bailiff turned up at Iris Koh and Raymond Ng's Farrer Park Road home on the morning of Feb. 10 to seize their possessions, in the latest instalment of the struck-out defamation suit involving the Healing the Divide founders.

The lawyers, who were hired by former Nominated MP Calvin Cheng — the accused in the failed suit — were accompanied by a court bailiff.

They were attempting to seize and sell items belonging to the couple after they failed to pay court-ordered costs in the suit.

But they were unsuccessful as the couple denied them entry.

In a Facebook post shortly after the attempted seizure, Cheng said he would "press on".

"Costs of living in Singapore are high, and every cent matters," he wrote.

He added in a follow-up post the same day that he has never enforced a debt before, and still hopes the couple "can turn back".

'Sting operation'

In response, Koh published a Facebook post of her own, alleging that Cheng appeared to have launched a "sting operation".

She shared a video showing a group of people at her doorstep during the attempted seizure — apparently members of the press.

She added that it was "not that [they] didn't want to pay", but rather that they had asked for the court order to be varied or changed.

This request is awaiting the court's direction on Feb. 25, she said.

In the video, Koh remarked that the attempt at seizure "looks like intimidation" and was "very very inappropriate".

"You want to take video, we also take lah, never mind," she could be heard telling the press.

A man, who said he was from a law firm hired by Cheng, could also be heard telling Koh and Ng that they could not enforce the seizure as it was the "first attempt".

He then urged them to contact the law firm.

When asked why they did not wait for the court's direction, another man, who also said he was from the law firm, explained that the current court order "remains and is standing".

Koh replied that she would check with her own legal counsel.

In the subsequent Facebook post, she added that the defamation lawsuit against Cheng and others will continue, and that she is gathering a "war chest" to fight against them.

She also hopes to sue Telegram to get the group's discussion forum back up, she added.

While not typically exercised on the first attempt, the bailiff may exercise force entry on the second or subsequent attempts, according to the SG Courts website.

Background

On Jun. 21, 2024, Cheng published a post on Facebook about Covid-19 vaccination.

Koh, Ng, and three other claimants applied for an injunction against Cheng, alleging that he had made "false and defamatory statements" in his post.

They submitted that Cheng's post meant that they "possess a malicious intent to cause death, akin to the criminal act of killing, which suggests a deliberate and premeditated act of harm".

A judge later dismissed this application, ruled it an abuse of court processes, and allowed Cheng's application to strike out the claims.

Koh and the other claimants were ordered by the judge to pay Cheng S$8,000 plus GST in costs.

Ng and two other claimants were also ordered to pay him S$2,500 plus GST, for the successful striking-out application.

Following the judgment, Cheng said he intended to pursue "these costs to the fullest".

Koh, on her own platform, said she would consider whether to appeal or not, and said the judge's ruling did not mean that they had lost their case against Cheng.

Top image from Calvin Cheng and Iris Koh/Facebook