THE High Court has awarded Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong $500,000 in damages and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew $450,000 in damages in a defamation suit that both won against the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and several of its leaders.

Six of the party leaders and three other central executive committee members had, in 2006, apologised for the libel contained in articles in the party newsletter, The New Democrat, that same year. The Lees each received $170,000 from this group.

But the SDP, its secretary-general Chee Soon Juan and central executive committee member Chee Siok Chin contested the suit. The High Court in 2006 found that they had defamed PM Lee and MM Lee.

The party and the Chees are thus liable to pay PM Lee $330,000 and MM Lee $280,000, Justice Belinda Ang ruled in a written judgment released today.

This amount was aggravated by the 'egregious' conduct of the Chees, in particular during a three-day court hearing to assess damages at the end of May, she said.

The defamatory article, published before the 2006 General Election, had reported on the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) scandal and drew parallels between how the charity and the Government were run.

The Lees sued over contents in the article which alleged that they were corrupt and had covered up wrongdoings at the NKF.