Shanmugam Kasiviswanathan v Xu Yuanchen

[2026] SGHC 69 High Court (General Division) 31 March 2026 • HC/OC 13/2025 ( HC/AD 3/2026 ) |HC/OC 14/2025 ( HC/AD 2/2026 ) • 29 min read
11 cases cited

Catchwords

Damages – Assessment – Defamation – Principles applicable to determination of appropriate quantum of damages

Practice Areas

Damages

Judges (1)

Audrey Lim Delivered

Counsel (6)

Davinder Singh Chambers LLC Firm Davinder Singh s/o Amar Singh Counsel Plaintiff Fong Cheng Yee David Counsel Plaintiff Hanspreet Singh Sachdev Counsel Plaintiff Jeanne Goh Counsel Plaintiff Sambhavi Rajangam Counsel Plaintiff

Parties (3)

Shanmugam Kasiviswanathan Plaintiff Tan See Leng Plaintiff Xu Yuanchen Defendant

Case Significance

Shanmugam Kasiviswanathan v Xu Yuanchen [2026] SGHC 69 is a High Court General Division judgment delivered by Audrey Lim J on 31 March 2026, assessing defamation damages for two consolidated claimants — Minister for Home Affairs and Coordinating Minister for National Security Shanmugam Kasiviswanathan, and Minister Tan See Leng — against Xu Yuanchen for an article Mr Xu caused to be published. Both claimants had obtained default judgment on 26 August 2025 and a joint assessment order on 27 November 2025; Audrey Lim J rendered a single decision covering both assessment proceedings. The claimants were represented by Davinder Singh s/o Amar Singh, Fong Cheng Yee David, Hanspreet Singh Sachdev, Jeanne Goh, and Sambhavi Rajangam of Davinder Singh Chambers LLC; Mr Xu did not contest.

Summary

Two Cabinet ministers, Shanmugam Kasiviswanathan and Tan See Leng, brought defamation claims against Xu Yuanchen, Chief Editor of The Online Citizen, over an article published on 12 December 2024 that linked them to Good Class Bungalow transactions lacking public records. Judgment in default was entered against Xu after he failed to contest the claims, and the court assessed damages considering the article's reach of over 44,000 views and the defendant's malicious conduct and failure to apologise. The court awarded each claimant $210,000, comprising $160,000 in general damages and $50,000 in aggravated damages.

What did the High Court decide about defamation damages in Shanmugam Kasiviswanathan v Xu Yuanchen [2026] SGHC 69?

Audrey Lim J of the High Court assessed defamation damages on 31 March 2026 in favour of Ministers Shanmugam Kasiviswanathan and Tan See Leng against Xu Yuanchen, following default judgment obtained on 26 August 2025 in relation to an article Mr Xu had caused to be published.

Cases Cited (11)

SG (1)
[2023] SGHC 311
SLR (10)
[1997] 3 SLR(R) 576 [1998] 2 SLR(R) 971 [2001] 1 SLR(R) 86 [2009] 1 SLR(R) 642 [2010] 4 SLR 357 [2013] 4 SLR 629 [2020] 2 SLR 308 [2021] 4 SLR 1128 [2022] 3 SLR 924 [2024] 5 SLR 194

Judgment

Read the full judgment on the official Singapore Courts portal.

Read on eLitigation

Source: eLitigation ([2026] SGHC 69)