Singapore blogger found guilty of defaming PM

A Singapore blogger was found guilty Friday of defaming Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong by uploading a post that apparently accused him for misappropriation of funds.

High court Judge Lee Seiu Kin found that a reasonable, ordinary person would have associated Lee with criminal misappropriation of money paid by residents to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts after reading a blog post by Roy Ngerng Yi Ling May 15, Xinhua reported.

In the post filled with many charts and figures, Ngerng, 33, compared Lee to leaders of a church being prosecuted for allegedly misusing 50 million Singapore dollars ($40 million).

Ngerng has been ordered to stop publishing any allegations against Lee having misappropriated the CPF savings.

However, the blogger "remained free to exercise his right to freedom of speech" under an article of the constitution, except for repeating the particular allegation.

Ngerng received lawyers' letters from the prime minister after putting the post online in May.

He admitted to making false accusations, removed the post and apologised to the prime minister.

Lee rejected his offer of 5,000 Singapore dollars ($4,000), saying that the blogger was "insincere" as he had published various posts and a YouTube video after removing the post, repeating the libel.