Singapore ministers K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng filed a defamation lawsuit against Bloomberg and a reporter over a December 12, 2024 article that discussed their high-end property deals in Singapore [1, 2, 3].
The article detailed Shanmugam’s 2023 sale of his former Queen Astrid Park residence to UBS Trustees for $88 million SGD and Tan’s 2023 purchase of a bungalow in Brizay Park for nearly $27.3 million SGD [1, 2, 3]. It alleged a growing opacity surrounding luxury property transactions in the city-state.
The ministers accused Bloomberg of "unprecedented malice" and sought substantial damages. Their legal team cited Bloomberg’s decision to drop its paywall on the article, refusal to retract the report, and suppression of internal documents and emails as evidence of this malice. Senior Counsel Davinder Singh described the case as “unprecedented for the malice, the determination to hurt and the aggravation” [1].
Bloomberg defended the article as the product of thorough reporting and responsible journalism. Senior Counsel N. Sreenivasan said the news organization “had employed the defence of responsible journalism to reflect the care it took in researching for the article” [1].
The lawsuit highlights scrutiny of high-value property ownership and transparency in Singapore’s real estate market.
The ministers’ closing court submissions were made on May 22, 2025, reiterating their claims of aggravated malice by Bloomberg [1, 2, 3]. The case continues to unfold in Singapore’s courts.
