Singapore judge finds blogger guilty of defaming prime minister A Singapore judge on Friday ruled that a blogger who criticised the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, was guilty of defamation. The case, which has cast a chill over Singapore's increasingly vocal netizens, has drawn criticism from some commentators that Mr Lee was needlessly heavy-handed in choosing to take the blog's author, Roy Ngerng, to court. Previous damages cases won by Singapore's prime minister and his predecessors have been high, often resulting in the financial ruin of defendants. However, the government argued that Mr Lee's action was necessary to protect his reputation in the face of what it has called "false and malicious personal allegations that impugn a person's character or integrity." It also said the internet "should not be exempt from the laws of defamation." The defamation suit was sparked by a blog post this year by Mr Ngerng, a 33-year old hospital worker, which allegedly implied that Mr Lee had misappropriated funds in Singapore's state pension system. In the post, Mr Ngerng had alleged that the rate of return at the Central Provident Fund should be higher than it is because some of it was invested by Temasek, the country's state investment company, and GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund of which Mr Lee is chairman. However, Temasek said at the time that it "does not invest or manage the savings of CPF members." CPF funds are invested by its board in special government securities issued and guaranteed by the government. The proceeds are invested by the government through GIC and the country's monetary authority. GIC has not commented on case. Judge Lee Seiu Kin, at Singapore's High Court, said in a 39-page judgement on Friday that "there is no doubt that it is defamatory to suggest that the plaintiff is guilty of criminal misappropriation of the CPF monies." Mr Ngerng's lawyer said he would study the judgment before deciding on a course of action. Mr Lee, who is chairman of the People's Action party that has ruled Singapore uninterrupted since 1959, had earlier rejected as "derisory" an offer of $5,000 in damages from Mr Ngerng, who received a flood of cash donations to help him raise funds for his defence. The last time Mr Lee sued for defamation was in six years ago. Chee Soon Juan, an opposition leader, was temporarily bankrupted after Mr Lee and co-plaintiff Goh Chok Tong, Mr Lee's predecessor, won significant damages in that case.