Terry Xu & The Online Citizen publisher ordered to pay S$125,000 to UOB for defamation damages

A court in Singapore has ordered Terry Xu Yuan Chen and Miao Yi Infotech, a company in Taiwan that publishes The Online Citizen (TOC), to pay S$125,000 in damages to United Overseas Bank (UOB) for defamation on Mar. 4, CNA reported.

What happened

TOC published four articles and several social media posts that accused the bank of coercive conduct towards its customers, as well as criminal wrongdoing, among other accusations.

UOB sued Xu over the articles and social media posts.

The four articles were:

•  "Ex-CEO accuses UOB of coercion, threats, and S$500M corporate raid"
• "Yang Kee Logistics: The Question isn't if Yang Kee struggled - it's what UOB did next"
• "Ken Koh's Story: Why only TOC published it"
• "UOB-Yang Kee Logistics dispute"

First article

The first article was published on Mar. 27, 2025.

Three Facebook posts were also put up that linked to the article.

The article alleged that Singapore's "largest financial scandal" involved Yang Kee Logistics (Singapore) and its chief executive officer, Koh Kien Chon, who were "played out by bankers".

Yang Kee Logistics and Koh were UOB customers.

Some of the allegations included the bank forcing "damaging transactions" on the company, as well as convertible bonds with "an exorbitant 27 per cent annual interest rate", and having terms imposed "under duress" and "threats".

UOB's lawyers send letter of demand

UOB's solicitors sent a letter of demand to TOC a day after the article was published.

TOC subsequently published the second article and a Facebook post.

This piece accused the bank of causing the downfall of Yang Kee Logistics, having sabotaged it in conduct that was not in integrity, fairness or trust, UOB argued.

Published another two articles

TOC published the final two articles on Mar. 29, 2025,

It explained that it had published an "expose", while other media outlets did not do so, including those funded by public moneys are under the SPH Media Trust.

TOC also explained at the time: "We vetted the facts, sought legal advice, and made the editorial call to publish. Because journalism isn't about playing it safe - it's about standing up when others look away."

What court decided

The assistant registrar of the court found that Xu and the publisher of TOC had defamed UOB.

Xu and Miao Yi Infotech did not contest the claim or file a notice of intention to contest it.

It was ruled that the articles and posts were widely disseminated, defamatory, and affected the bank's reputation.

The public's negative comments on the published articles and posts showed that the allegations were damaging.

UOB did not show defendant acted with malice

But the court also found that UOB did not show the defendants acted with malice and could not conclude that the defendants knew the allegations were untrue, as the bank had not adequately established the falsity of the statements in the first place.

It was also noted that the bank did not set out its version of events in relation to its dealings with Yang Kee.

UOB had asserted the defamatory statements were "false and baseless", without providing elaboration or supporting documents, and it did not engage "substantively" with the defendants to demonstrate that the allegations were false, the court noted.

Xu and Miao Yi Infotech are also to pay costs fixed at S$16,500, plus disbursements of about S$1,500.

This is likely the highest award of general damages for a corporate claimant in a defamation case in Singapore, CNA added.

Singapore ministers K Shanmugam and Tan See Leng have sued Xu over an article about Good Class Bungalows.

Xu was found to have defamed them, but the amount of damages awarded has yet to be determined.

Top image via Terry Xu & TOC