Singapore’s Senior Minister K. Shanmugam and Minister for Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng have each been awarded S$145,000 (US$113,000) in legal costs following their successful defamation suit against Bloomberg and its journalist.A court earlier this month ruled that a December 2024 Bloomberg article on Good Class Bungalow (GCB) transactions had defamed the ministers. Bloomberg and its reporter, Low De Wei, were ordered to pay S$230,000 in damages to each minister.Details of the costs were shared with the media in an extract of the notes of proceedings.The breakdown showed that each minister was awarded S$50,000 for pre-trial work, S$65,000 for the trial and S$30,000 for post-trial work.The Bloomberg article opened with a line: “Singapore’s ultra-rich are increasingly cloaking their purchases of mansions in the city state in secrecy.”Tan See Leng is Singapore’s minister for trade and industry (energy and industry). Photo: Facebook/DrTanSeeLengAfter referencing a S$3 billion money laundering scandal and how criminals linked to the case were convicted, jailed and deported, the article said buyers of high-end homes would rather keep their purchases under the radar.