Tan See Leng and K Shanmugam threaten Bloomberg with legal action over GCB transaction report

SINGAPORE: In a strong response to a Bloomberg article published on 12 December, Manpower Minister Dr Tan See Leng and Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam have vowed to take legal action against the media outlet for publishing what they describe as a ‘libellous’ report regarding their property transactions.

The two ministers from the People’s Action Party simultaneously addressed the Bloomberg article in a Facebook post on Monday afternoon (16 December).

“We have taken legal advice and we will be issuing Letters of Demand in relation to that article,” the ministers stated.

“We will be taking similar action against others who have also published libellous statements about those transactions. We take a serious view of the allegations,” the statement continued.

The ministers’ latest comments stem from the Bloomberg report titled “Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in Secrecy.”

The article discussed the use of trusts and the lack of transparency surrounding high-profile transactions in Singapore’s exclusive Good Class Bungalow (GCB) market.

The report stated that Dr Tan purchased a GCB at Brizay Park in 2023 for S$27.3 million.

However, despite a search by The Online Citizen (TOC) of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) Private Residential Property Transactions database and other online sources, no public records of the transaction were found, aside from Bloomberg’s revelation.

Bloomberg also cited TOC’s report in September that K Shanmugam sold a GCB in Queen Astrid Park for S$88 million in August 2023.

This transaction, facilitated through a trust known as Jasmine Villa Settlement, left the identity of its ultimate beneficiary undisclosed.

Despite the significant scale of this sale, mainstream Singapore media has yet to report on it.

The Bloomberg article raised concerns about the increasing use of trusts to obscure the identities of property owners, particularly in high-value transactions.

The report also noted that nearly half of GCB transactions in 2024 lacked property caveats, raising further questions about the transparency of the market.