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Lee won a High Court defamation case against blogger Roy
Ngerng, 33, in November, the first time the city-state's leader
sued an online critic.
Ngerng was sued for his blog post in May when he was alleged to
have implicated Lee in impropriety in connection with how funds
in Singapore's mandatory retirement savings scheme, the Central
Provident Fund(CPF), are managed.
Ngerng was ordered to pay the amount for legal fees and related
expenses, Chang Li Lin, the press secretary to the prime
minister said in a statement.
She said the dates for the subsequent hearings - which will
determine the amount of damages payable to Lee - are not
confirmed.
"At the hearing today, the judge ordered that the total costs to
be paid by the defendant to the plaintiff be fixed at S$29,000,"
she said.
"This amount is for the legal fees and related expenses incurred
up to the conclusion of the application for summary judgment."
Singapore's leaders have in the past sued or settled out of
court with several foreign media publications including The New
York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and The Economist for
alleged defamatory remarks but this is the first time a blogger
has faced such action.
($1 = 1.3362 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar)
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