Blogger Leong Sze Hian Ordered to Pay PM Lee S$133,000 for Defamation; Had Falsely Linked Him to 1MDB Scandal

In 2018, when Ed Sheeran crooned about how perfect his lover looked in his songs, Prime Minister (PM) Lee sued blogger Leong Sze Hian for defamation.

His offence? Sharing an article on Facebook claiming that PM Lee had helped to launder 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds.

Two years after the defamation suit was initiated, the case has finally reached a conclusion.

Blogger Leong Sze Hian Ordered to Pay PM Lee S$133,000 for Defamation

The High Court has ordered Leong to pay PM Lee S$133,000 for defamation.

The sum includes S$100,000 in general damages and S$33,000 in aggravated damages.

In a written judgement on Wednesday (24 March), Justice Aedit Abdullah explained that Leong had shared the offending article “without making any enquiries as to its truth whatsoever” and exhibited “reckless disregard of whether the article was true or not”.

The judge said that because the blogger refused to apologise for the defamatory words, malice may have been involved.

However, the perceived malice wasn’t enough to grant the S$150,000 in damages demanded by PM Lee’s lawyers, as there was “limited basis to award such damages”.

“The malice in this case, unlike in several of the other cases cited to me, did not involve a defendant wilfully posting something he knew to be false at the time of posting, nor did it involve a defendant who defiantly insisted on the truth of his libellous claims to the bitter end despite clear evidence to the contrary.”

PM Lee said that the issue has been resolved by the judge and that he has nothing further to add.

So, what exactly happened?

Allegations of Money Laundering

On 7 November 2018, Leong shared a link to an article from Malaysian news site The Coverage in a Facebook post.

The article alleged that PM Lee had helped former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak launder money from 1MDB, a Malaysian state fund.

For those who don’t know, Najib was accused of channelling over RM 2.67 billion from 1MDB to his personal bank accounts.

The article, as well as a photograph of Najib and PM Lee, gave the impression that the two were in cahoots, and that PM Lee was complicit in Najib’s criminal activity.

According to The Straits Times, the contents of the article had been taken from the States Times Review (STR) site, which is owned by Singaporean Alex Tan Zhi Xiang, who lives in Australia.

The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) was only introduced in October 2019, so it wasn’t in place when the article was published.

When PM Lee was asked in court last year if he had considered launching a suit against STR, he answered, “The Government acted and I also had to consult my counsel, and having done so, we decided to proceed in this defamation case against Leong Sze Hian.”

Feature Image: Facebook (Leong Sze Hian) / Facebook (Lee Hsien Loong)