Updated: 05/29/2014 12:35 | By Channel NewsAsia
Blogger-PM case will be heard in court
SINGAPORE: The Court will determine if blogger Roy Ngerng has defamed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and assess damages to be awarded if necessary.
In a letter sent to Mr Ngerng's lawyers on Thursday (May 29), Mr Lee's lawyer Senior Counsel Davinder Singh wrote: "Our client will invite the Court to have regard to this malicious conduct when assessing aggravated damages."
Mr Singh also clarified that Mr Lee "has never once said that (Mr Ngerng) is to remove his posts", other than those specifically identified in previous legal letters. "Despite that, your client has in your letter dated May 28, 2014 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."
Added the Drew & Napier lawyer: "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 (Mr Lee)."
Mr Ngerng had offered S$5,000 damages for the posts and videos published on his blog "the Heart Truths", a sum Mr Lee's lawyers called "derisory" and completely disregarding the gravity of the blogger's "calculated and systematic aggravation". - CNA/es