PM asks blogger to remove 'defamatory
post'
By GOH CHIN LIAN
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday asked blogger Alex Au
to remove an allegedly defamatory article and readers' comments
that suggested he was corrupt and would hide wrongdoing in a town
council matter.
The online article by Mr Au and the readers' posts
following from it constituted "very grave libels" against Mr Lee
and "impugn his character, credit and integrity", said his lawyer,
Senior Counsel Davinder Singh.
In a legal letter to Mr Au yesterday, Mr Singh
asked the blogger to remove the allegedly offending material
immediately from his website and publish an apology within three
days.
Mr Au's article "PAP mis-AIMed, faces blowback" on
Dec 21, centred on a decision by People's Action Party (PAP)-run
town councils to sell to and then lease back their IT systems from
Action Information Management (Aim). The directors of Aim are
former PAP MPs.
He had questioned this move by the PAP MPs, saying
it raised issues of trust and integrity.
The article attracted posts from readers, several
of which referred to corruption. Yesterday, Mr Singh cited 21 of
them as being "highly defamatory allegations".
He said that the posts, when read with the article
or on their own, were understood to mean that Mr Lee "is guilty of
corruption" in the Aim case and "will abuse his powers to cover up
the matter or prevent any investigation into his corruption".
Mr Lee's lawyer said that Mr Au, who decides which
comments sent to his site are published, was responsible and liable
for the offending posts as well.
Yesterday, Mr Au said he would remove the article
and the posts. "I will accept that they are defamatory and will
take them down as requested, and put up a letter of apology," he
said.
But he added that the legal action should not
"distract" from the sale of town council software to Aim. As of
10.30pm last night, he had not removed the material.
Mr Lee had suffered damage and incurred costs over
the libel, said his lawyer. But just as in a recent case, Mr Lee
was giving Mr Au a chance to apologise and remove the posts.
Mr Singh said: "He has decided that, just like he
gave the editors of TR Emeritus the chance to apologise and remove
their libel against him in February last year without claiming
damages and costs, he will extend a similar opportunity to
you."
Six months ago, Mr Au had to apologise for contempt
of court over a blog post on plastic surgeon Woffles Wu's traffic
fine.
Top of the news, The Straits Times, Saturday, January 5
2013 Pg A1
stop pasting articles lah
