Shanmugam alleges Bloomberg lied to press secretary about not targeting him in alleged defamatory article

Taking the stand on the second day of a defamation trial, Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam said that it was a "lie" that Bloomberg's article about Good Class Bungalows (GCBs) was not targeted at him.

The article in question, titled "Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in Secrecy”, was written by Bloomberg's reporter Low De Wei and published on Dec. 12 2024.

Targeted

Low's email to Shanmugam's Press Secretary Ng Siew Hua was brought to attention during exchanges with Bloomberg's legal team, which includes Senior Counsel Sreenivasan Narayanan.

When questioned by Ng in the email, Low claimed that the article was not targeted at Shanmugam, and that it was part of a broader story.

However, Shanmugam said this was a lie, referring to internal Bloomberg emails presented to the court on Apr. 7.

He had alleged that the aim of the article was to publish his sale of the property, and Bloomberg emails discussed getting this out by wrapping it as part of a broader story.

Questions by Senior Counsel

Sreenivasan referred to a document from August 2024, which he said was a first draft of the article, and asked if there was a mention of Shanmugam's name. The minister said no.

Sreenivasan then asked if Shanmugam would agree that the main thrust of the article, which he said was his transaction, "doesn't exist" in the first draft.

However, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, Shanmugam and Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng's lawyer for the defamation suit, interjected at this point.

He said that he disagreed these documents should be considered a draft, as it only shows the main points and summary of what would be included in the article.

It was just something Low used to get permission from a superior to write the article, he said.

Sreenivasan later asked Shanmugam if he would agree that when one reads the contents of the various emails and "drafts", the emails did not show him as being targeted "in any way".

"I disagree completely," responded Shanmugam.

Reports of other GCB sales

Sreenivasan said that Shanmugam had told the court yesterday that the sale of his property was a private matter and questioned why would Bloomberg or anyone talk about it.

He then referred to several Straits Times articles reporting on several sale transactions of GCBs, including one of Haidilao's co-founder purchasing a GCB.

Sreenivasan said that transactions of people purchasing GCBs are routinely covered in the media.

Shanmugam said that these transactions are sometimes reported, but one must see the context on why these sales were reported.

He pointed out that the Straits Times reports did not come out a year after the transactions they were writing about took place, whereas the Bloomberg report came out a year after his own property sale.

Act of aggravation

Shanmugam said that the fact the article was not taken down is an act of aggravation.

Despite being handed a Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) correction order, Shanmugam pointed out that the article in question is still up on Bloomberg's website.

"You're being told by the government of Singapore that your article contains various falsehoods... nevertheless, they keep the article up," Shanmugam said.

He highlighted that Bloomberg had the right to go to court to apply to set aside the POFMA order, as is provided under the law.

However, they did not do so and instead kept up their article, for "15 months" up till today.

This, Shanmugam contended, showed their intentions and their "malicious" behaviour.

Background

Shanmugam and Tan filed filed lawsuits on Jan. 6, 2025 against Bloomberg and Low over a December 2024 article which focused on GBC transactions in Singapore.

They alleged that the article was defamatory, arguing it falsely implied they had taken advantage of a lack of transparency in property transactions to act non-transparently, and to hide their transactions from scrutiny, including over the possibility of money laundering.

While POFMA orders were issued to Bloomberg and other entities that reproduced the article in whole or in part on Dec. 23, 2024, Bloomberg stood by its reporting.

It published a correction notice on the article but said it “respectfully disagrees” with the correction direction. The article remains accessible to readers, including the Singaporean public.

Terry Xu, chief editor of socio-political website The Online Citizen (TOC), was found liable for defamation against the two ministers for citing the Bloomberg article on his site.

He was ordered on Mar. 31 to pay the two ministers S$210,000 each, comprising S$160,000 in general damages and S$50,000 in aggravated damages, CNA reported.

The trial will resume on Thursday, Apr. 9.

Top image via Mothership