Singapore PM's Brother To Pay Damages To Indian-Origin Ministers In Defamation Case

Singapore's High Court on Tuesday ordered Lee Hsien Yang, the younger brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, to pay damages to two Indian-origin ministers for making defamatory allegations against them on a social media site.

The defamation case stems from Yang's allegations relating to Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan renting two state-owned bungalows.

The High Court on Tuesday granted default judgment in favour of the two ministers after Yang failed to respond to their defamation suits against him, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

The amount of damages to be paid will be assessed at a subsequent hearing, the report said.

The judge also granted an injunction restraining Yang from further publishing or disseminating the false and defamatory allegations.

In a Facebook post on July 27, Shanmugam said Yang, who is currently based in the UK, had accused him and Balakrishnan of ''acting corruptly and for personal gain by having Singapore Land Authority (SLA) give us preferential treatment by illegally felling trees without approval and also having SLA pay for renovations to 26 and 31 Ridout Road''.

According to Channel News Asia, Shanmugam and Balakrishnan sued Yang for defamation over remarks he made in a Facebook post on July 23, in which he wrote, "Two ministers have leased state-owned mansions from the agency that one of them controls, felling trees and getting state-sponsored renovations."

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau found in a report released in June that there had been no wrongdoing or preferential treatment given to the two ministers, the report said. 

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