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Bloomberg's decision not to appeal defamation judgement shows it knows article 'full of falsehoods': Shanmugam
He also pointed out that Bloomberg did not appeal the POFMA order issued against the article at the centre of the lawsuit.
August 29, 2026, 07:08 PM
Photos by Mothership
Bloomberg has not filed to appeal the High Court's judgement that the news outlet and its journalist defamed Senior Minister K Shanmugam and Minister for Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng, SM Shanmugam said.
The deadline for appeal passed two days ago, he noted in a Facebook post on Aug. 29.
Decision not to appeal
After the verdict was delivered on Jul. 14, awarding both ministers S$230,000 in damages each, Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait said that they were "very disappointed" by the ruling but will "of course respect it".
They described the reporting behind the article in question, titled "Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in Secrecy", was accurate and a "solid story".
They added that they would continue to stand by their journalists.
The article, which mentioned private properties purchased by Shanmugam and Tan, claimed there was a lack of public transparency regarding Good Class Bungalow (GCB) transactions.
SM Shanmugam pointed out that despite defending their reporting, Bloomberg decided not to appeal the judgement.
"Bloomberg’s decision not to appeal the High Court’s decision reveals its true assessment of the legal merits," he wrote in his Facebook post.
"It has chosen to leave the court’s findings of malice, falsehoods and wrongful conduct unchallenged, on the record."
He also highlighted that Bloomberg did not apply to dismiss the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) correction order it was issued in December 2024.
The order stated that the Bloomberg article communicated false statements of fact about GCB transactions.
"Bloomberg did not apply to set aside the order, as it had the right to do," SM Shanmugam said. "Again, this shows that Bloomberg knew that the article was full of falsehoods."
Speaking more broadly, he went on to say that some media organisations "adopt a superior attitude, believing themselves entitled to maliciously malign public leaders in non-Western societies and purvey falsehoods with impunity".
"They use their money and size to get away with this. They can’t do that in Singapore."
