A BLOGGER accused by prime minister Lee Hsien Loong of defamation offered compensation after initially refusing to do so, as the premier’s lawyer accused him of lacking contrition.
“Our client proposes to offer S$5,000 (RM12,800) as damages to the prime minister,” Roy Ngerng Yi Ling’s legal counsel M. Ravi said in a letter to Lee’s lawyer.
“The sum is based on our client’s modest living and income that he derives from working as a healthcare worker,” Ravi wrote in the letter, released to the media.
Lee’s lawyer Davinder Singh last week demanded an apology and compensation from 33-year-old Ngerng for a May 15 article seen as accusing the premier of corruption.
Singh had said the commentary, penned by Ngerng and posted on his blog The Heart Truths, implied that “Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore and the chairman of GIC, is guilty of criminal misappropriation of the monies paid by Singaporeans to the CPF (Central Provident Fund)”. — AFP
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
