Shanmugam & Vivian to Sue Lee Hsien Yang If He Doesn’t Pay Damages & Apologise for His FB Post

K. Shanmugam & Vivian Balakrishnan to Sue Lee Hsien Yang if He Doesn’t Apologise and Pay Damages

Singapore’s Minister for Home Affairs and Law, K. Shanmugam, along with the Foreign Affais Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, have issued legal letters in response to accusations made by PM Lee’s brother, Lee Hsien Yang, regarding the Ridout Road saga.

Shanmugam posted on his Facebook that Lee Hsien Yang accused both him and Balakrishnan of corruption and abusing power. Specifically, they were alleged to have received preferential treatment from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), carried out unauthorized tree felling, and had the SLA cover the renovation costs for properties Ridout Road houses.

Shanmugam firmly stated that these allegations are false. “We have asked him to apologise, withdraw his allegations and pay damages, which we will donate to charity. If he does not do so, we will sue him.”

What Did Lee Hsien Yang Say?

On 23 July 2023, Lee Hsien Yang posted this:

In the post, he claimed that the ministers “have leased state-owned mansions from the agency that one of them controls, felling trees and getting state-sponsored renovations.”

He also added that “SPH Media, an entity being given almost a billion dollars of taxpayers monies, has fraudulently inflated its circulation numbers.”

His post was POFMA-ed, as the authorities said that both were untrue.

Lee Hsien Yang has since put up a correction notice on that post, but made a new post after that, claiming he stood by what he said.

In his last post, he said, “I wonder whether, with all this scandal over Ridout mansions, maybe Shanmugam has already resigned and Lee Hsien Loong is going to wait six months before letting us know,” which is a dig at how Tan Chuan-jin has resigned since February this year and we only got to know about it in July.

You can watch this video to know more about the conclusion of the Ridout Road saga: