The applications by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and financial consultant and blogger, Leong Sze Hian to strike out each others’ claim was heard on Monday (25 February), and the judgement was reserved and will be announced in “written grounds” in the near future.
Lim Tean, who is representing Mr Leong in his defence and countersuit, revealed this update on his Facebook page.
Last year, PM Lee sued the renowned Singaporean blogger for defamation over a Facebook share he made on his Facebook profile 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, Mr 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, the veteran blogger then filed an application to strike out PM Lee’s claim for abuse of process of the court and the hearing for both their applications was heard on Monday (25 February).
According to the statement released by Carson Laws Chambers, it is written that, “This morning, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s application to strike out our client Mr Leong Sze Hian’s counter-claim for abuse of process of court, and Mr Leong’s application to strike out Prime Minister Leong Hsien Loong’s libel claim were heard together in the High Court.”
Lim Tean said that his team put forward “Mr Leong’s case forcefully” and they were pleased with the hearing.
After hearing counsel from both sides for more than three hours, Justice Aedit Abdullah had reserved judgement for both applications. The statement disclosed that the “Learned Judge will release his written grounds of decision in due course.”
