Singapore: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has sent a legal notice to a local blogger, demanding the removal of an article accusing him of corruption which had been "published maliciously", local media reported. Roy Ngerng had on his website, The Heart Truths, posted a blog titled "Where your CPF Money Is Going: Learning From The City Harvest Trial", which is understood to mean that Lee "is guilty of criminal misappropriation of the monies paid in the Central Provident Fund (CPF)".
CPF is compulsory contribution from local workers and employers to a providential fund for the workers. The City Harvest Trial refers to a local church related fund management case in Singapore court. "This is a false and baseless allegation and constitutes a very serious libel against our client, disparages him and impugns his character, credit and integrity," the notice dated May 18 stated.
The notice was issued by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh of Drew & Napier law firm, acting on behalf of Lee. Lee wants Ngerng to immediately remove the blogpost, publish an apology on the homepage of his blog for as long as the offending blog post was left online, and pay compensation for damages and legal costs.
The blogger has three days to comply, failing which legal proceedings will be initiated against him, Lee's lawyer wrote. The letter was reproduced by Ngerng on his blog site today, according to a Channel News Asia report.
In the same post, Ngerng said of the legal request "Today, I received an email from Lee Hsien Loong's lawyer. I am being sued for defamation. I have advocated for a fairer and more equal Singapore where every Singaporean and every person in Singapore can be taken care of and protected by our country.
Today, I am finally being silenced". Ngerng did not say in the blogpost if he would comply with the requests, although he stated, "It is only right that as people, we stand and fight for our freedoms".
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