Singaporean blogger gets 17 years to pay damages
Print Edition
A BLOGGER ordered to pay S$150,000 (US$109,000) in libel damages to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will make payments in instalments over the next 17 years, his lawyer said yesterday.
Roy Ngerng, 34, a former government employee, was found guilty in November 2014 of defaming Lee after accusing him in a blog of misappropriating state pension funds.
Under an agreement with the prime minister, Ngerng will pay S$30,000 by tomorrow to cover the costs of an assessment hearing, said his lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam.
To cover the actual damages he will then pay S$100 a month for the next five years before the amount increases to S$1,000 a month until the amount is paid, which will take 17 years.
No interest will be collected but if Ngerng defaults on any payment, he will have to repay the full sum immediately, said Thuraisingam, who is representing Ngerng for free.
In a blogpost yesterday, Ngerng asked for donations to help pay off the amount he is due to hand over by tomorrow, adding that he is currently looking for a job.
“I hope to be able to find a job and make use of my work experience and skills,” he wrote.
“I miss contributing effectively to make positive change.”
Ngerng’s guilty verdict was the first such ruling in Singapore over a purely online article. The city-state consistently ranks highly in surveys as one of the world’s least corrupt countries, but rights groups say its leaders have used financially ruinous defamation suits to silence critics and political opponents.
Singaporean leaders maintain that the lawsuits are necessary to protect their reputations from unfounded allegations.
Ngerng initially offered S$5,000 as compensation to Lee, who rejected the amount.
After being sued by the prime minister in 2014, Ngerng was fired from his government hospital job for administrative reasons, which he did not contest.
He successfully raised more than S$112,000 through crowdfunding, but the cash ran out during his defense.
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