Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has rejected as "derisory" a compensation offer by a local blogger who defamed him, the premier's lawyer said today, paving the way for a possible lawsuit.
"Your client's offer of Singapore dollars 5,000 (USD 4,000) is derisory and completely disregards the gravity of your client's conduct (and) the undisputed fact that the libel is false and malicious," Lee's lawyer Davinder Singh said in a letter to Roy Ngerng Yi Ling's legal counsel late today.
Singh last week demanded an apology and compensation from 33-year-old Ngerng for a May 15 article seen as accusing the premier of corruption.
Singh had said the commentary, penned by Ngerng and posted on his blog The Heart Truths, implied that "Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore and the chairman of GIC, is guilty of criminal misappropriation of the monies paid by Singaporeans to the CPF (Central Provident Fund)".
GIC is a sovereign wealth fund that manages more than USD 100 billion of the city-state's foreign reserves. CPF is the state pension fund.
Ngerng, a healthcare worker, has said the article was meant to call for greater transparency on how the pension fund is invested by the government through its two sovereign wealth firms.
