Defamation suit by K Shanmugam & Tan See Leng against Bloomberg & reporter set for trial in Apr. 2026

The defamation suit brought by Ministers K Shanmugam and Tan See Leng against Bloomberg and one of its reporters will go to trial in April 2026, The Straits Times reported.

The civil trial is set for eight days between Apr. 7 and 16.

The Singaporean ministers are suing Bloomberg and its reporter over an article it ran on Dec. 12, 2024, titled "Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in Secrecy".

The article, written by Low De Wei, discusses the sale of Good Class Bungalows (GCBs) in Singapore and claims a lack of public records regarding GCB transactions.

It mentioned private properties purchased by Shanmugam and Tan.

'Libellous'

Responding to the article then, both ministers called it "libellous" in separate Facebook posts on Dec. 16, 2024.

They also said then that they would issue letters of demand to the media outlet.

On Dec. 23, 2024, the Ministry of Law issued a POFMA order against Bloomberg for the article.

In response, Bloomberg posted a correction notice on its article and social media posts, stating that it had done so under threat of sanction, but wrote that it disagreed with the correction direction and stood by its reporting.

The article is still up on Bloomberg's website at the time of writing.

On Jan. 6, 2025, the ministers filed separate defamation claims against Bloomberg and its reporter, ST wrote.

In their statements of claim, they said that the article suggested they took advantage of there being no checks and balances or disclosure requirements to purchase a property in a non-transparent manner.

They said that the offending words in the article were false and baseless.

Bloomberg and Low filed separate but similar defences, reiterating that the words in the article were not defamatory.

Case conferences began on Mar. 3, 2025.

The ministers are represented by several lawyers, including Davinder Singh.

Bloomberg and Low are represented by lawyers from RCLT Law Corporation as well as Wong Thai Yong.

Top image via K Shanmugam, Tan See Leng / Facebook