1 A Singapore court has frozen the assets of an American educator who is unlikely to pay a dlrs 6,850 fine imposed by court for writing an article critical of the judiciary, a senior official said Thursday.
2 Christopher Lingle, who used to teach economics at the National University of Singapore, was found guilty of contempt by the Supreme Court on Jan. 17 in writing the article in the International Herald Tribune, an American-owned newspaper.
3 Lingle, a native of Atlanta, Ga., returned to the United States in October and subsequently resigned. He was unrepresented during the trial and has refused to pay the fine of 10,000 Singapore dollars.
4 Four other defendants, including the Tribune and its Singapore-based Asia editor, Michael Richardson, also were found guilty in the case and fined lesser amounts. The Tribune is owned by the New York Times and the Washington Post and prints an edition here.
5 'We got an order to prevent (Lingle) from removing any assets that he has in Singapore until he pays,' a senior court official told The Associated Press.
6 A notice was faxed to Lingle on Wednesday, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
7 Lingle, reached at his father's home in Atlanta, said he had about dlrs 20,000 in savings and a university pension fund, which collects a substantial portion of the monthly salary with equal contributions from the employee and the employer.
8 Lingle worked in Singapore for 13 months.
9 Paying the fine, plus the mandatory court costs would probably use up all his savings, he said. But if he counted lawyers' fees, moving expenses and lost employment, 'my total losses come to about dlrs 90,000,' he said.
10 'I am still broke, unemployed and disoriented,' he said.
11 University officials are scheduled to appear before the court on March 8 to reveal how much money Lingle has here, the official said.
12 The Lingle case highlighted the unpleasant relation between Singapore and the press, especially the foreign media. In the past, several American publications have had their circulation curtailed briefly for writing articles deemed critical of Singapore.
13 Lingle wrote in the Tribune's Oct. 8 edition that some Asian governments used 'compliant judiciaries to bankrupt opposition politicians.'
14 Although Lingle did not name any country, the court said he was obviously referring to Singapore given the number of Singapore leaders who have successfully prosecuted opposition leaders for defamation.
15 Some of them became bankrupt in paying the damages.

Christopher Lingle , who used to teach economics at the National University of Singapore , was found guilty of contempt by the Supreme Court on Jan . 17 in writing the article in the International Herald Tribune , an American - owned newspaper .
who used to teach
Why does he no longer teach?