Leong Sze Hian, veteran blogger and financial consultant, who is being sued by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong over a defamation case received a generous gift from a well-wisher on Tuesday (12 February) at his doorsteps.
The gift consisted of red packet, ginseng, birds’ nest, chicken essence as well as abalone, and they are all well-within the expiry date.
When Leong got the gift, the well-wisher only delivered an oral message, “boosters for you to attend court!”
Since last year, Leong is in the midst of a legal battle with PM Lee when the PM sued the blogger for defamation over a Facebook share he made with an article from TheCoverage.My. The article claimed that editor-in-chief of investigative journalism platform Sarawak Report (SR) Ms Clare Rewcastle had mentioned Singapore as “one of the key investigation targets, alongside Switzerland and United States” in the 1MDB scandal during an interview with Malaysian media.
Following this, Leong filed a countersuit against PM Lee for the abuse of the process of the Court.
After Leong filed the counterclaim, PM Lee’s lawyers then made an application to strike out the counterclaim “on the ground that it has no basis in law and is completely hopeless”.
In response, the veteran blogger filed an application to strike out PM Lee’s claim for abuse of process of the court and the hearing for both their applications is set to happen on 25 February.
After accepting the gift, 66-year-old Leong said, “Am so grateful to this well-wisher as well as the thousands who have sent me messages of support and encouragement. Surprises like this really make my day and helps to keep me going. I am so touched by the greetings that I get almost wherever I go. I can’t wait for the trial to start, so that I can have ginseng, birds’ nest, chicken essence, etc, every morning before I go to court!”