Blogger to pay fines by instalments for defaming Singapore PM

Singapore's blogger Roy Ngerng will start paying the 150,000 Singapore dollars (about 109,500 U.S. dollars) fine, which he was ordered by the country's Supreme Court in December last year as compensation for defaming Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, local media reported on Monday.

Ngerng will start with payments of 100 Singapore dollars (73 U.S. dollars) a month for five years from April 1 until the year of 2021, and then he will have to pay 1,000 Singapore dollars (730 U.S. dollars) a month until the full sum is paid, his lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam said.

His payment should be complete by 2033 if he pays all the instalments on time, Channel NewsAsia (CNA) added.

Ngerng, 34, defamed Lee in a blog post on his blog The Heart Truths on May 15, 2014 by suggesting the prime minister misappropriated Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings.

He also compared Lee to the City Harvest Church leaders who misused more than 35 million U.S. dollars of church funds to turn the pastor's wife into a global pop star.

Ngerng was then asked to stop publishing any similar assertions. However, he later wrote in a blogpost that although the injunction was in place, he would continue to speak up for CPF and other issues.

The blogger has also been fined a total of 1,900 Singapore dollars (1,387 U.S. dollars) in 2015 for organizing a rally without approval under the Reform Party during the 2015 general election.

According to CNA, Ngerng will not have to pay any interest if he makes his payments on time. However, if he breaches the agreement, the full amount outstanding plus Court Judgment interest will be immediately payable. Endit