Singapore ex-PM Lee Hsien Loong’s brother ordered to pay US$296,000 for defaming 2 ministers

Lee Hsien Yang, the estranged younger brother of the former prime minister, made defamatory allegations against the two ministers “of the gravest kind”, wrote Justice Goh Yihan.

The younger Lee, once the chief executive of Singtel, was in July 2023 ordered by the government to correct a Facebook post the law ministry said contained falsehoods about a controversy over Law Minister K. Shanmugam and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan renting state properties.

The judge said Lee did not apologise or remove the post despite being given an opportunity to do so by the ministers, instead “doubled down” in another post saying he stood by what he said.

The court awarded S$150,000 in general damages and S$50,000 in aggravated damages to each minister, according to the reports.

“The facts are the facts,” Lee said on messaging app WhatsApp. “The two ministers claim to have wanted to clear their names yet declined offers to take this to a London court or an independent international tribunal.”

The frayed relationship has played out publicly with the younger Lee aligning himself with an opposition party during the 2020 election and last year saying he was considering running for the Singapore presidency.

Lee Hsien Loong, 72, last week handed over the reins to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in the country’s first leadership transition in 20 years.