Blogger Roy Ngerng pays S$30,000 in damage assessment costs over defamation

SINGAPORE – Blogger Roy Ngerng has paid up the costs for the hearings to assess damages he owes for defaming Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Mr Lee’s press secretary Chang Li Lin confirmed that Mr Ngerng made the payment of S$30,000, which is due Wednesday (March 16).

The lawyers of Mr Lee and Mr Ngerng reached a settlement on Monday on the terms for paying the S$150,000 in damages awarded to Mr Lee. As a condition of the payment plan, Mr Ngerng was to pay up for the costs of the assessment of damages hearing by today.

Mr Ngerng will pay off the damages in installments – S$100 a month for the five years, followed by S$1,000 a month subsequently.

It will take Mr Ngerng 17 years to settle the sum, going by this schedule. No interest will be levied on the sum, provided Mr Ngerng makes each payment on time.

In December last year, a High Court judge ordered Mr Ngerng to pay Mr Lee S$150,000 in damages for alleging that the latter had criminally misappropriated Central Provident Fund monies. While past defamation cases involving Prime Ministers have attracted damages in excess of S$300,000, Justice Lee Seiu Kin said a “substantial reduction” in this case was warranted, given the blogger’s “comparatively low standing”.