Financial news provider Bloomberg and its real estate reporter Low De Wei were ordered to pay a total of S$290,000 in legal costs to Singapore Cabinet ministers K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng after losing a defamation lawsuit related to a 2024 article [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Each minister was awarded S$145,000, which included S$50,000 for pre-trial costs, S$65,000 for trial costs covering 6.5 days of hearing, and S$30,000 for post-trial costs linked to submissions and hearings [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
The defamation suit stemmed from Bloomberg’s December 12, 2024 article titled "Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy," which referenced property transactions by both ministers in 2023 [1, 2, 3, 5, 6]. The report detailed Shanmugam’s sale of his former home at Queen Astrid Park for S$88 million to UBS Trustees and Tan See Leng’s purchase of a bungalow at Brizay Park for nearly S$27.3 million without a caveat [1, 2, 3, 5].
Justice Audrey Lim ruled on July 14, 2026, that reporter Low De Wei either knew certain information used in the article was false or published it recklessly without verifying its truthfulness [1, 2, 3, 5]. The court also cited Bloomberg’s decision to remove the article’s paywall as evidence of malice, increasing its accessibility to spread the defamatory message [1, 2, 3, 5]. The judge found the article, when read as a whole, implied Shanmugam and Tan See Leng were involved in secrecy and opacity regarding their property purchases, amounting to defamation [4].
Bloomberg and the reporter contested the claim, arguing their article addressed broader market trends rather than targeting the ministers personally or alleging wrongdoing, but the court rejected this defense [4]. Bloomberg’s reliance on the UK Reynolds public interest defense was also dismissed as it does not apply under Singapore law [4].
On May 22, 2026, a half-day hearing on legal costs took place, and on July 30, a closed-door hearing awarded the legal costs to the ministers [1, 2, 3, 5]. The legal costs order was publicly reported in early August 2026 [4, 6].
The case follows Bloomberg’s article claim that "Singapore's ultra-rich are increasingly cloaking their purchases of mansions in the city-state in secrecy," which the court found implied defamatory meanings about the ministers [4].
