'IHT' to pay Lee US$210,000 in damages

'IHT' to pay Lee US$210,000 in damages

SINGAPORE (Reuter): International Herald Tribune (IHT)
newspaper executives have agreed to pay S$300,000 (US$210,000) to
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew over an article that defamed him,
Lee's lawyer said yesterday.

"The three defendants agreed to pay the senior minister
S$300,000 by way of damages and costs," Tan Kok Quan told
Reuters. The amount was fixed at an in-chambers hearing
yesterday.

At issue was an article by an American academic, Christopher
Lingle, published in the newspaper on Oct. 7, 1994. It referred
to "intolerant regimes in the region", some of which rely "upon a
compliant judiciary to bankrupt opposition politicians".

The IHT, owned by The New York Times and The Washington Post,
apologized for the article last year and did not contest
liability.

The defendants who agreed to pay yesterday were IHT executive
editor John Vinocur, Asia editor Michael Richardson and publisher
Richard McClean. Richardson is based in Singapore, while Vinocur
and McClean are at the paper's Paris headquarters.

Lingle did not offer to settle and was not represented by the
IHT's lawyers, said Tan.

Lee, Singapore's prime minister from 1959 to 1990, has
reserved his right in action against Lingle. "The senior minister
can, at a later date if he wishes, still have the case heard
against Lingle and have damages which Lingle has to pay
assessed," said Tan.

Lingle, a former lecturer in European studies at the National
University of Singapore (NUS), left Singapore and quit his job
after he was questioned by police shortly after the article was
published.

He has not returned to Singapore since the incident.

Yesterday's proceeding marked the second time in four months
that the IHT paid Lee for defamation. In July, a Singapore court
ordered the newspaper to pay S$950,000 ($665,000) to three of the
country's leaders over an article alleging nepotism in
government.

The court on July 26 told the newspaper to pay Prime Minister
Goh Chok Tong S$350,000 ($245,000). Lee and his son, Deputy Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong, were awarded S$300,000 ($210,000) each.

The earlier IHT case hinged on an article by Philip Bowring
published on Aug. 2, 1994, which implied that the younger Lee
owed his job to his father's influence.