TOC's Terry Xu fails to turn up at High Court hearing in K Shanmugam & Tan See Leng defamation suit

Terry Xu, chief editor of The Online Citizen (TOC), failed to turn up in the High Court on Feb. 26 for a damages hearing in the defamation suit filed against him by Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam and Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng.

The lawsuit was brought in relation to TOC's publication on a Bloomberg article about Good Class Bungalow transactions in Singapore.

Xu did not have a legal representative and previously failed to file a defence in the case, resulting in the awarding of default judgments to the plaintiffs.

Xu absent in court

CNA reported that Thursday's hearing was mostly procedural, with both ministers taking the stand to swear in affidavits.

Both Shanmugam and Tan answered some clarification questions on the dates of their ministerial appointment, The Straits Times wrote.

The opening statement made by the ministers' counsel, Davinder Singh, did not make note of the amount of damages being sought.

However, Singh pointed out that Xu's absence in court amounted to the defendant admitting to the ministers' statements of claim.

At the end of the hearing, which lasted 30 minutes, Singh was told by the judge to file closing submissions in two weeks, and to serve the documents to Xu by e-mail and in-person within seven days of filing.

Xu moved to Taiwan in 2022 and supposedly runs the socio-political site from there.

Bloomberg article

The ongoing defamation suit against Xu was filed by Shanmugam and Tan on Jan. 6, 2025.

This comes after TOC cited a Bloomberg article, titled "Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in Secrecy", in December 2024.

The Bloomberg article discussed the sale of Good Class Bungalows in Singapore and claims a lack of public records regarding such transactions.

It mentioned private properties purchased by Shanmugam and Tan.

The ministers later said in Facebook posts that they would be issuing Letters of Demand against Bloomberg over the article, and would take similar action against others who have also published the "libellous statements".

TOC, The Edge Singapore and The Independent Singapore, together with Bloomberg, were issued POFMA orders in relation to the article on Dec. 23, 2024.

The ministers then filed a defamation suit against Bloomberg and its journalist, Low De Wei, on Jan. 6, 2025.

They also filed the defamation suit against Xu that same day.

The lawsuit between the ministers and Bloomberg is set to go to trial in April 2026.

Top image via K Shanmugam, Tan See Leng, Terry Xu / Facebook