SINGAPORE — The High Court on May 11 ordered The Online Citizen (TOC) chief editor Terry Xu to pay more than $154,000 in legal costs to Cabinet ministers K Shanmugam and Tan See Leng over the defamation suit they had brought against him.The sum comprises $78,000 in lawyers’ fees — $39,000 for each minister — and more than $76,000 in disbursements, which are out-of-pocket expenses.Mr Shanmugam, the Coordinating Minister for National Security, was awarded $44,398.25 in disbursements, while Dr Tan, the Manpower Minister, was awarded $32,064.25.Mr Xu was not present or represented by a lawyer at the hearing to determine legal costs.In March, Mr Shanmugam, who is also Home Affairs Minister, and Dr Tan were each awarded $210,000 in damages over an article that TOC had published in December 2024, titled Bloomberg: Nearly half of 2024 GCB transactions lack public record, raising transparency concerns.The TOC article referred to a Dec 12, 2024, Bloomberg article on good class bungalow (GCB) transactions which mentioned the property deals made by the two ministers in 2023. Read more