Roy Ngerng found to have defamed PM Lee

SINGAPORE – The High Court has found blogger Roy Ngerng to have defamed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, with damages to be assessed.

In a written judgment issued today (Nov 7), Justice Lee Seiu Kin has ordered Ngerng to be “restrained from publishing or disseminating the allegation” that the plaintiff, Mr Lee, is guilty of criminal misappropriation of the monies paid by Singaporeans to the Central Provident Fund, or any words and/or images to the same effect.

Earlier this year, Mr Lee sued Ngerng over his posts alleging misappropriation of Central Provident Fund (CPF) monies. In May, Mr Lee’s lawyers issued a letter of demand to Ngerng to immediately remove a post on his blog, thehearttruths.com as well as links to the article on two Facebook pages. The post was titled, Where your CPF Money is Going: Learning from the City Harvest Trial. In a letter issued by Mr Lee’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, Ngerng was told to publish an apology and pay damages to Mr Lee, or legal action would be taken.

Ngerng responded to the judgement in a blogpost today, saying he was “disappointed as I have never intended to defame the prime minister”.

He added: “I will still continue to speak up on the CPF and other issues that concern Singaporeans.There needs to be transparency and accountability on the CPF, so that Singaporeans’ lives are protected and our elderly can retire with dignity.”