Lawyers for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have sent a letter of demand to blogger Alex Au over a defamatory post published on his blog, Yawning Bread , reported Today newspaper.  

The local media reported that the article, titled ‘PAP mis-AIMed’, concerns the sale of computer systems used by town councils to the firm, Action Information Management (AIM).

Today said the letter, from Drew and Napier senior counsel Davinder Singh, said the blog post contained “very serious suggestions of criminal breach of trust” and, by the references to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, “of corruption”.

The post also drew defamatory comments from readers, some directed against Lee, said the letter of demand, which listed 21 comments.

The comments, when read with the original post and/or by themselves, were understood to mean that Lee “is guilty of corruption in relation to the AIM Transaction and will abuse his powers to cover up the matter or prevent any investigation into his corruption”, Today reported, quoting the letter which had said that “these are false and baseless allegations”.

The letter said Lee would give Au the chance to apologise and remove the libel without claiming damages and costs. Among the conditions was that Au had to remove the post and related comments as well as publish an apology.

In a statement, Au said he “accepts” that parts of his article and comments from readers were defamatory and “will take them down as requested”.

He said he would also put up a letter of apology.

- Bernama