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Magazine to pay damages to PM, MM...
SINGAPORE: A magazine and its editor have been ordered to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew over S$400,000 for defamation.
The High Court ordered the Review Publishing Company, publisher of the Far Eastern Economic Review (Feer), and editor Hugo Restall to pay S$200,000 in damages and S$30,000 in legal costs to PM Lee, reported AFP.
The minister mentor will get S$150,000 in damages and S$25,000 in legal costs.
The penalties were set after the Court of Appeal last month upheld a 2008 decision finding the defendants guilty of defaming the Lees in a 2006 article based on an interview with opposition politician Dr Chee Soon Juan.
Dow Jones and Co, which owns the magazine, said in a statement on Tuesday that it disagreed with the verdict and denied any wrongdoing but would settle the damages instead of prolonging the process, reported AFP.
When contacted by MediaCorp, Drew and Napier, which represented both Singapore leaders in the case, confirmed that Feer had agreed to pay S$405,000 to Messrs Lee.
Feer is to be shut down in December, one of a growing number of publications which have fallen victim to the Internet age.
The article at the heart of the case — Singapore’s "Martyr", Chee Soon Juan — described the opposition Singapore Democratic Party secretary—general’s battle against the ruling People’s Action Party and its leaders.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_455905.html
The High Court ordered the Review Publishing Company, publisher of the Far Eastern Economic Review (Feer), and editor Hugo Restall to pay S$200,000 in damages and S$30,000 in legal costs to PM Lee, reported AFP.
The minister mentor will get S$150,000 in damages and S$25,000 in legal costs.
The penalties were set after the Court of Appeal last month upheld a 2008 decision finding the defendants guilty of defaming the Lees in a 2006 article based on an interview with opposition politician Dr Chee Soon Juan.
Dow Jones and Co, which owns the magazine, said in a statement on Tuesday that it disagreed with the verdict and denied any wrongdoing but would settle the damages instead of prolonging the process, reported AFP.
When contacted by MediaCorp, Drew and Napier, which represented both Singapore leaders in the case, confirmed that Feer had agreed to pay S$405,000 to Messrs Lee.
Feer is to be shut down in December, one of a growing number of publications which have fallen victim to the Internet age.
The article at the heart of the case — Singapore’s "Martyr", Chee Soon Juan — described the opposition Singapore Democratic Party secretary—general’s battle against the ruling People’s Action Party and its leaders.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking...ry_455905.html
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