SINGAPORE: A registered proprietor of a unit in Oxley Bizhub, an industrial building, was awarded S$30,000 (US$23,300) in damages on Wednesday (Jun 11) after he successfully sued its management corporation for defamation.
Mr Koh Chong Chiah, 71, the chief executive officer of Arts Theatre of Singapore, a Chinese drama charity organisation, sued the Oxley Bizhub’s Management Corporation Strata Title over a letter it sent to all its subsidiary proprietors alleging bullying behaviour by Mr Koh.
In his judgment, District Judge Seah Chi-Ling assessed the overall defamation to be “moderately severe” and awarded less than the S$150,000 that Mr Koh sought in general damages.
He also rejected Mr Koh’s claim for aggravated damages of S$100,000, finding that this was not warranted.
Arts Theatre of Singapore occupies a unit in Oxley Bizhub, which has a total of 728 units and is located along Ubi Road 1.
Mr Koh was represented by lawyer Clarence Lun from Fervent Chambers, while Oxley Bizhub’s management corporation was represented by lawyers Nicholas Leong and Nichol Yeo from Nine Yard Chambers.
EVENTS IN THE LEAD-UP TO THE DEFAMATION SUIT
The judge noted that Mr Koh, formerly a senior banker, and the incumbent management council members had been “far from cordial” over the years.
Mr Koh and a number of subsidiary proprietors were critical of the way the management council managed Oxley Bizhub and had tried to take the council to task for the way it handled various matters.
The dissenting group had also tried to replace council members at annual general meetings, but they failed to get enough votes to get themselves elected into the council.
In June 2021, a letter allegedly issued under the management corporation’s letterhead was placed into the letterboxes of all the subsidiary proprietors at Oxley Bizhub.
The letter was addressed to government agencies, including the Prime Minister’s Office, the People’s Association, and the Building and Construction Authority.
This letter contained libellous statements, including how Mr Koh supposedly bullied and threatened those at Oxley Bizhub, how he “harassed” the council by lodging complaints with public service agencies, and how he was “using his PBM title” to put pressure on these agencies.
PBM refers to the Public Service Medal, which Mr Koh received in 2000 for his service to the arts community in Singapore.
The letter also referred to how Mr Koh organised the group, loosely known as “Oxley Task Force”, and how he allegedly vandalised Oxley Bizhub’s facilities to make the management corporation “look bad”.
On Jun 10, 2021, an email referring to this letter was sent from the email address of the management corporation to all owners and occupiers of units within Oxley Bizhub.
The email requested that the subsidiary proprietors sign a petition to support the letter being sent to the government agencies.
