The applications by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and financial consultant/blogger, Leong Sze Hian to strike out each others’ claim will be heard on 25 Feb.
Last year, PM Lee sued the veteran Singaporean blogger for defamation over a Facebook share he made on his Facebook profile. Subsequently, Leong filed a countersuit against PM Lee for the abuse of the process of the Court.
After Mr Leong filed the counterclaim, PM Lee’s lawyers made an application to strike out the counterclaim “on the ground that it has no basis in law and is completely hopeless”.
In response, Lim Tean, who is representing Leong in his defence and countersuit, said that he will be filing an application by Friday to strike out PM Lee’s claim for abuse of process of the court.
This morning, lawyers for PM Lee and Leong attended the Pre-Trial Conference before the Assistant Registrar and fixed the hearing of PM Lee and Leong’s application on 25 Feb.
The lawyers will return to court on 31 Jan for another Pre-Trial Conference to finalise the schedule for the hearing of the applications.
According to Carson Law Chambers, the two applications will be heard by a High Court Judge in Chambers, bypassing the norm that they are usually heard by the Assistant Registrar at the first stage. It noted that both sets of lawyers agreed to this procedure and added that any appeal from the decision of the High Court Judge will be heard by the Court of Appeal.
“We reiterate that Mr Leong’s defence to Lee Hsien Loong’s claim is unaffected in any way by these applications.” wrote
Mr Davinder Singh of Drew and Napier declined comments when approached by media.
