Two Indian-origin Singapore ministers to sue PM's brother on defamatory allegations

Singapore: Two senior Indian-origin ministers in Singapore have threatened to file a lawsuit against Lee Hsien Yang, the estranged brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, for making defamatory allegations relating to their rental of two colonial-era bungalows in the city-state.

Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said they will sue Lee Hsien Yang for defamation if he does not apologise for having made false allegations.

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".

Both the ministers have sent letters to Lee Yang and asked him to withdraw his allegations.

The properties at the centre of the matter – 26 Ridout Road rented to Mr Shanmugam, and 31 Ridout Road rented to Dr 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.

"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," Channel News Asia quoted Shanmugam as saying.

Lee Hsien 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.

These allegations are false, said Shanmugam.

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.

The issue was debated in parliament on July 3. Four ministers - Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, Shanmugam and Balakrishnan - delivered ministerial statements.

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.

Lee Hsien Yang and his wife Lim 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 will of the first Prime Minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew, relating to the family house.