Ridout Road property row: Sue me in the UK, Singapore PM’s brother tells ministers

Singapore: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s estranged brother has asked two senior Indian-origin ministers to sue him in the UK for making defamatory allegations relating to their rental of two colonial-era bungalows in the city.

"My Facebook post was made in the United Kingdom. If K Shanmugam and V Balakrishnan believe that they have a real case, they should sue me in that country," Channel News Asia quoted Lee Hsien Yang, the second son of Singapore’s first prime minister the Late Lee Kuan Yew, as saying.

Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan have sent lawyers’ letters to Lee Yang for defamatory allegations relating to their rental of two Ridout Road bungalows.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Shanmugam said Lee Yang had accused him and Dr Balakrishnan of “acting corruptly and for personal gain by having Singapore Land Authority (SLA) give us preferential treatment by illegally felling trees without approval, and also having SLA pay for renovations to 26 and 31 Ridout Road”.

"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," the Channel quoted the minister as saying.

Hitting back at the ministers, Lee Yang said, "My social media post (on July 23) simply stated facts that were already widely published in Singapore and international media.” The properties at the centre of the matter --26 Ridout Road was rented to Shanmugam, and 31 Ridout Road to Balakrishnan – are two 100-year-old bungalows in the Ridout Park area, which are designated one of the 39 Good Class Bungalow Areas by the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

Lee Yang and his wife Lee Suet Fern are not in Singapore. They left after declining to attend a police interview in July 2022, relating to lying in judicial proceedings about the late Lee's will with regard to the family house.

Lee Yang, who was formerly CEO of telco SingTel and also sat on the boards of various institutions, has made at least eight Facebook posts on Ridout Road, according to media reports.

The Ridout Road bungalows matter first emerged in early May when opposition politician and Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam questioned if the ministers were “paying less than the fair market value” for their rental of the two-state properties along Ridout Road.

Investigations, including the one by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing or preferential treatment given to the two ministers.