The Singapore High Court ruled on July 14, 2026, that Bloomberg and its reporter Low De Wei defamed ministers K Shanmugam and Tan See Leng in a December 12, 2024 article about secretive Good Class Bungalow property transactions [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. The article titled "Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in Secrecy" referenced Shanmugam's sale of a bungalow for about S$88 million and Tan's purchase of a bungalow for approximately S$27.3 million through a non-caveated transaction in 2023 [1, 3, 4, 5, 12].
Justice Audrey Lim found that the article implied wrongdoing by associating the ministers' property deals with secrecy, opacity, non-transparency, and possible money laundering. She said, "An allegation that a person has deliberately structured his property dealings to escape examination for possible money laundering plainly tends to lower him in the estimation of right-thinking members of society" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 12]. The judge rejected Bloomberg’s defense that the article merely examined a broader trend and cited the ministers only as examples [2, 6]. Bloomberg’s claim that the UK-style Reynolds public interest defense applied was also dismissed, with the court saying it is not part of Singapore law and Bloomberg failed to meet responsible journalism standards or give the ministers a fair chance to respond [2, 6].
The court found Bloomberg acted maliciously, publishing with knowledge or reckless disregard for falsehoods and removing the article’s paywall to reach more readers [7, 12]. Bloomberg argued at trial their reporting was accurate and served an important public interest. John Micklethwait, Bloomberg’s Editor-in-Chief, said, "We argued at trial that our reporting was accurate and served an important public interest, and we continue to believe that the ministers have imposed an extremely strained meaning on what was a solid story" [1].
The court awarded damages of S$230,000 each to Shanmugam and Tan, making Bloomberg and Low jointly liable for a combined total of S$460,000 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12]. Following the verdict, Bloomberg removed the article from its website as ordered by the court [1, 7].
Ministers Shanmugam and Tan said the lawsuit was to protect the integrity and standing of their ministerial offices and their reputations from defamatory and malicious allegations. Shanmugam said, "If irresponsible outlets like Bloomberg get away with publishing lies and falsehoods about public officers, it will set a new norm" [8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. Tan added, "Political office holders must discharge our duties with integrity and be open to scrutiny and legitimate criticism. Equally, media reporting should be fair and accurate, particularly where it concerns allegations that can seriously damage an individual’s reputation" [8].
Both ministers pledged to donate the damages awarded to charity [11].
