• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

Lee Hsien Loong’s defamation suit against blogger to be heard in open court from 6-9 Oct

by The Online Citizen
31/08/2020
in Court Cases
Reading Time: 3 mins read
29

The defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong against veteran blogger and financial advisor Leong Sze Hian will be heard in the High Court in October after a previous postponement of the trial.

Mr Leong’s lawyer Lim Tean in a Facebook post on Monday (31 August) said that the hearing, which is set to take place from 6 October to 9 October, which will be open to the public.

The trial which was supposed to be held in July earlier this year, was postponed after PM Lee’s representing counsel, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh fell sick and given a month long medical leave.

According to the press release by Carson Law Chambers, both PM Lee and Leong Sze Hian will be physically present at the trial where they would give evidence and be cross-examined.

The release added that an expert witness from Hong Kong will be called by PM Lee.

It is further said that the presiding judge will arrange for the largest court room available for the trial due to keen interest in the case.

The defamation suit concerns an article by shared by Mr Leong on his personal Facebook Timeline titled “Breaking News: Singapore Lee Hsien Loong Becomes 1MDB’s Key Investigation Target – Najib Signed Several Unfair Agreements with Hsien Loong In Exchange For Money Laundering” in November 2018.

The article, published by “Malaysian-based social news network” The Coverage, alleged that Mr Lee had entered “several unfair agreements” with Najib Razak, who was the Malaysian Prime Minister at the time the deals purportedly took place, “including the agreement to build the Singapore-Malaysia High Speed Rail”, according to court documents.

Mr Leong did not include any accompanying text alongside the article at the time he shared the article.

In an appeal following the striking out of Mr Leong’s counterclaim against Mr Lee’s defamation suit, Mr Lim argued before a three-judge panel that while Mr Lee “may be a litigant in person”, he argued that Mr Lee, as Prime Minister, is “bringing libel action to protect the reputation of his government”, and that consequently it has “a chilling effect on free speech”.

Mr Lim also highlighted that out of the “10,000 people” who had shared the allegedly defamatory article, Mr Leong was the only one to be sued by PM Lee.

“We have a case of the prime minister exercising the highest form of selectivism to determine who (the) recipient of libel claim will be and in this case it is directed at a prominent critic of the government who has written well over 2,000 articles over the years,” Mr Lim told the Court of Appeal during the open hearing on 27 September last year.

Chief Justice Menon said, however, that a plaintiff in a defamation action is “entitled to invoke the aid of the court to vindicate his interests if he is at the receiving end of a defamatory publication”.

Courts, he added, “cannot limit the rights of injured parties to access the courts, even if they happen to be public figures”.

The High Court earlier cited Mr Leong’s failure to disclose a “reasonable cause of action” in Mr Leong’s counterclaim as a reason to dismiss the counterclaim.

Justice Aedit Abdullah — who will be hearing the defamation suit early next month — in delivering his judgement last year, cited the Court of Appeal’s decision in Lee Tat Development Pte Ltd v Management Corporation Strata Title Plan No 301 [2018] 2 SLR 866, which “rejected the tort of abuse of process as a recognised cause of action”.

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.

Related Posts

Kajang cops chided for denying woman access to police HQ because she was wearing shorts
Community

Kajang cops chided for denying woman access to police HQ because she was wearing shorts

03/02/2023
Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID
Current Affairs

Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

03/02/2023
Minister Tan See Leng only reveals 500 intra-corporate transferees from India for last year – a Covid year
Opinion

Increasing number of working Permanent Residents in Singapore but with a stable PR population

03/02/2023
Opinion

A multi-party parliament is the only way to make sure that Singapore continues to not condone or tolerate corruption

03/02/2023
Anwar criticised over appointing own daughter as his senior advisor
Malaysia

Anwar criticised over appointing own daughter as his senior advisor

03/02/2023
Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI
Indonesia

Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI

02/02/2023
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
29 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

Kajang cops chided for denying woman access to police HQ because she was wearing shorts

Kajang cops chided for denying woman access to police HQ because she was wearing shorts

03/02/2023
Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

Adani’s brother runs SG company and registers as director with local ID

03/02/2023
Minister Tan See Leng only reveals 500 intra-corporate transferees from India for last year – a Covid year

Increasing number of working Permanent Residents in Singapore but with a stable PR population

03/02/2023

A multi-party parliament is the only way to make sure that Singapore continues to not condone or tolerate corruption

03/02/2023
Anwar criticised over appointing own daughter as his senior advisor

Anwar criticised over appointing own daughter as his senior advisor

03/02/2023
Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI

Level of unemployment in Indonesia shows failure in the Job Creation Law, says KSPI

02/02/2023

The Keppel bribery scandal tests Singapore’s zero-tolerance policy towards corruption

02/02/2023
Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

Singapore Law Watch removes commentary on CPIB’s decision to not prosecute former Keppel executives

02/02/2023

Trending posts

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

by Yee Loon
30/01/2023
25

...

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

by Yee Loon
26/01/2023
24

...

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

They have done a fine job of confusing us about the jobs situation

by Augustine Low
01/02/2023
36

...

Two Indian nationals paid about S$330 and S$730 respectively for forged certificates submitted in their S-Pass application

MOM found issuing EPs meant for foreign PMETs to PRC waitress and general worker

by Correspondent
26/01/2023
41

...

Singapore warns slower economic growth in 2023

Less than 1 in 10 jobs created in first three quarters of 2022 went to Singaporeans?

by Leong Szehian
28/01/2023
69

...

Excessively charging for an essential need, and calling it affordable because people still can pay for it?

by Terry Xu
31/01/2023
39

...

August 2020
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  
« Jul   Sep »

The Online Citizen is a regional online publication based in Taiwan and formerly Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.

Navigation

  • Editorial
  • Commentaries
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Community

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Letter submission
  • Membership subscription

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Fact Checking Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

wpDiscuz