T. T. Durai - Lawsuit Over The Straits Times Article

Lawsuit Over The Straits Times Article

Durai and NKF sued SPH and its senior correspondent Susan Long over an article published in The Straits Times on April 19, 2004. Four days after the article appeared, the NKF, led by Durai, served a writ on the newspaper.

The NKF objected to the first six paragraphs of the article, which carried an account from a plumber who worked on the attached bathroom of Durai's private office suite. The plumber said he "lost it" when he had to install, among other things, "a glass panelled shower, a pricey German toilet bowl and a gold-plated tap". The article said the taps were "scaled down" after his outburst.

When contacted regarding the plumber's story, the NKF responded that it was "difficult for us to give an answer to enlighten your readers" since the newspaper had not said who the man was. Durai had the gold tap replaced with a steel one the week after the article was published.

The NKF claimed that the paragraphs implied it had misused funds collected from the public and splurged them on its CEO's office; that it mismanaged public donations; that it had "scaled down" the installations only because the plumber protested; and that it avoided providing details on the alleged incident.

The Straits Times argued that the alleged incident was true, and therefore justified publishing, and that the entire article was not defamatory but a fair comment on the lack of transparency and controversy surrounding the NKF.

Two days into the trial, which had been scheduled to last ten days, the NKF withdrew the defamation suits against SPH and the journalist.