Kenneth Jeyaretnam issued seventh Pofma correction order

He claimed PM, law minister can influence High Court judges’ performance bonuses

- Tham Yuen-C

Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam has been asked to put up a correction notice under the law against fake news, over his statements claiming that the prime minister and minister for law can influence performance bonuses paid to specific High Court judges.

He was issued a correction direction under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) on May 29 on the instruction of Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong.

On May 25, Mr Jeyaretnam had put up a Facebook post commenting on the defamation suits brought against Mr Lee Hsien Yang by Minister for Home Affairs and Law K. Shanmugam and Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan.

Mr Lee, the younger brother of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and son of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, had been found guilty by a High Court judge of defaming the ministers over their rental of state bungalows in Ridout Road and was ordered to pay the ministers $200,000 each.

The ministers had sued for defamation over comments Mr Lee Hsien Yang made on his Facebook page on July 23, 2023, which suggested that they had acted corruptly and received preferential treatment in the rental of the two bungalows accusations which had been proven untrue by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau and an independent review by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean in 2023.

In his May 25 post, Mr Jeyaretnam implied that there could have been a conflict of interest as the two ministers had been allowed to sue Mr Lee Hsien Yang for defamation, without first stepping down from their posts.

The opposition politician specifically singled out Mr Shanmugam, saying that as law minister, he "may have some input, along with the PM, into the appointment and promotion of High Court judges and into the size of their performance bonuses".