PM Lee commences suit against blogger Roy Ngerng

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has commenced proceedings on a defamation suit against blogger Roy Ngerng, who in a May 15 blog post alleged that Mr Lee had misappropriated CPF savings.

Get the full story from The Straits Times.

*Update*

In a letter to Mr Ngerng's lawyer on Thursday, Prime Minister Lee's lawyer said that Mr Lee "has never once said that your client is to remove his posts, including those on the Central Provident Fund, other than those specifically identified by us in our letters".

Lawyer Davinder Singh said that Mr Ngerng, in his letter on Wednesday, "sought to give the false impression that our client is seeking to prevent him from expressing his views on the CPF or from exercising his constitutional rights".

"That disingenuous suggestion was made in a letter which your client intended to make public, to bolster his standing and in aid of his continuing public campaign against our client," he wrote.

He said that Mr Lee will "invite the Court to have regard to this malicious conduct when assessing aggravated damages".

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Blogger Roy Ngerng can continue to write about CPF: M. Ravi

Blogger Roy Ngerng's lawyer M Ravi said on Wednesday in a letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's lawyer that Mr Ngerng "undertakes in writing that he will not aggravate the injury and distress to your client through similar posts."

This letter is in response to the point made in Mr Lee's Lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, dated May 26.

Mr Ravi explains in the letter, that is posted on Mr Ngerng's blog 'The Heart Truths', what "similar posts" refer to: "For the avoidance of doubt, similar other posts should not be constructed as a curtailment of our client's right to his freedom of expression to write or engage the public on the CPF issue and raise any matters relating to CPF that requires transparency and accountability to the public."

He goes on to explain that "any attempt to curtail this would be frowned upon by Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, especially since these posts do not refer directly to your client."

Mr Ravi pointed out that Mr Ngerng's "call for an open dialogue on the CPF issue is also in line with recent parliamentary exchanges that emphasise the importance of a robust debate."

This post on Mr Ngerng's blog is entitled 'I Will Continue To Speak Up On Singaporeans' CPF To Protect Us'.

spanaech@sph.com.sg