PM Goh wins defamation damages from Jayeretnam

PM Goh wins defamation damages from Jayeretnam

SINGAPORE (AFP): A Singapore judge found yesterday top opposition leader J. B. Jeyaretnam guilty of defaming Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and ordered him to pay S$20,000 (US$13,000) in damages, plus costs.

High Court Judge S. Rajendran ruled that Jeyaretnam, a veteran government critic, defamed Goh when he told a rally on the eve of the general election in January that another opposition figure had filed police complaints against Goh and other ruling party leaders.

The amount included S$10,000 in aggravated damages to Goh, who was grilled intensively by a British lawyer, George Carman, hired by Jeyaretnam in the high-profile case monitored by international human rights and legal groups.

"The enhanced damages arise out of the nexus between the harm done by the defamatory words originally spoken and the further harm done by the hurt caused to the plaintiff's feelings as a result of the cross-examination on irrelevant matters," the judge's ruling said.

Carman, one of Britain's most prominent libel specialists, had placed Goh under grueling questioning on the stand, which upset the premier.

Among other things, Carman had questioned Goh on democracy and government policy in Singapore and at one point accused the prime minister of being "economical with the truth", according to the judge's ruling.

The judge said Carman's allegations were "spectacular but unsubstantiated" and the barrister was, "on the defendant's behalf, attempting to put government policy on the stand, with little or nothing to back up his accusations".

"Ordinarily such rhetoric may not do much harm, but in this case the rhetoric was an attack on the integrity of the plaintiff as prime minister," he said.

Carman's allegations were "directed at the gallery and the press in order to denigrate the prime minister and the way he governs Singapore", he said.

The total damages awarded to Goh were only a tenth of the amount sought by the premier, who had asked for $200,000 in damages.

The judge ordered Jeyaretnam to pay 60 percent of legal costs incurred by the prime minister, which the opposition leader estimated would amount to more than $20,000.

London-based human rights group Amnesty International and the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists had sent legal experts here to observe the proceedings against Jeyaretnam.