Blogger Roy Ngerng pays PM Lee S$29,000 in legal costs after missing 2 deadlines

SINGAPORE — Blogger Roy Ngerng today (Feb 6) paid S$29,000 in costs to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong after missing two deadlines issued earlier by Mr Lee’s lawyers from Drew and Napier.

The previous deadlines were Jan 29 and Feb 2. The High Court ordered Ngerng last month to pay Mr Lee S$29,000 in total costs for court proceedings up until the summary judgment issued in November.

The summary judgment deemed he had defamed Mr Lee through blog posts alleging misappropriation of money placed in the Central Provident Fund.

The S$29,000 is for legal fees and related expenses incurred by Mr Lee. It does not include the damages to be awarded, which the High Court will assess at a later date.

According to Ngerng and Mr Lee’s press secretary Chang Li Lin, the blogger had attempted to pay Drew and Napier directly on Tuesday.

But this was not allowed as under lawyers’ professional rules, a lawyer cannot deal directly with the opposite party without the consent of the opposite party’s lawyer, said Ms Chang.

Mr Lee’s lawyers wrote to Ngerng’s lawyer M Ravi on the same day asking if he had any objections to Ngerng making payment directly, but there was no reply, said Ms Chang.

Another letter was issued to Mr Ravi today asking that payment be made by noon on Monday.

Later today, a representative of Mr Ravi called Drew and Napier to say that they could accept payment directly from Ngerng.

When contacted, Ngerng said he had given Mr Ravi the S$29,000 on Jan 22 and had received a receipt for it. But Mr Ravi had not processed the payment to Drew and Napier by Feb 2, and Ngerng said he was handed back the money to pay Mr Lee’s lawyers directly. He said he was unaware of the letters sent by Drew and Napier to Mr Ravi on Jan 30 and Feb 3.

But in an email to the media today, Mr Ravi claimed the blogger had “not been at all timely” in paying Drew and Napier even after the S$29,000 had been refunded to him.

Mr Ravi claimed the money was refunded to Ngerng at the latter’s request “in the presence of many other persons”.