SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): News organization Bloomberg has been issued correction instructions under the Fake News Act following its December 12 article on Good Class Bungalow (GCB) transactions in Singapore.
The Edge Singapore, The Independent Singapore and The Online Citizen have also been served with correction notices for copying all or part of the statements published in the Bloomberg piece.
Edwin Tong, Minister of Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister of Law, had issued instructions for these orders under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma), the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) said in a statement on 23 December.
The ministry said the false statements in the Bloomberg article “affected the transparency of real estate transactions in Singapore”.
“Together, these falsehoods create the impression that Singapore does not have a robust legal framework to require disclosure of information to the government in GCB transactions,” the report said.
“It is in the public interest that these falsehoods are addressed so that public confidence in the government is not undermined,” it added.
The Bloomberg piece, headlined: “Singapore mansion deals increasingly shrouded in secrecy,” covered GCB deals signed from January to early December, as measured by value.
The article stated that the findings came from data collected by Bloomberg News and List Sotheby’s International Realty.
The article also reported real estate transactions involving Justice and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Labor Minister Tan See Leng.
Both had said in Facebook posts on December 16 that they would take legal action against Bloomberg and other media outlets for publishing statements about their real estate dealings, which they consider defamatory.
The Straits Times understands that after seeking legal advice, they have since issued written requests regarding the article.
MinLaw said the Bloomberg piece had communicated several falsehoods.
It claimed that there are no publicly available government records of GCB sales transactions if no caveats are provided.
MinLaw said all property ownership and transfer information, including for all GCBs, is available on the Integrated Land Information Service portal operated by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).
This is regardless of whether a reservation has been made for the sales transaction.
The ministry also said that alerts are not intended to monitor real estate transactions or ensure transparency, but are voluntarily filed by parties seeking to protect their interest in a property.
The Bloomberg article also incorrectly stated that the identity of the beneficial owner of a GCB sale transaction does not have to be disclosed to the government, it added.
In response, the ministry said the government is mandating strict disclosure of the identity and citizenship of buyers and beneficial owners in all landed property transactions, including for GCBs.
This is regardless of whether a caveat is placed and whether the purchase is made by an individual, entity or a vehicle such as a trust, corporation or shell company.
The government is taking a strict approach to the ownership of landed properties by foreigners, MinLaw said.
Under the Residential Property Act 1976, foreign persons wishing to acquire such properties, including permanent residents and foreign entities, must obtain approval.
Since 2021, no such approvals have been given to foreign buyers in any capacity, personal or otherwise, to acquire GCBs, MinLaw said.
As part of the sales process for landed properties, including GCBs, SLA requires the identity and citizenship of the buyer to be declared to SLA when the deed of transfer is filed with the Land Titles Registry, it added.
The buyer’s lawyer must also declare that all information in this deed is correct and that all relevant provisions of the Housing Act have been complied with.
Lawyers are also required to provide a copy of the trust deed to SLA for all land real estate transactions concluded through trust agreements, after which SLA checks and verifies the identity of the beneficial owner.
If the buyer or ultimate owner is a company, the applicant must meet strict requirements before obtaining an approval certificate to purchase the property, MinLaw said.
For example, the company must be incorporated in Singapore and all directors must be Singapore citizens or entities.
The Bloomberg article also stated that the primary responsibility for combating money laundering in real estate transactions is left to real estate agents and other service providers.
MinLaw said it is the government that has the primary responsibility to combat money laundering in real estate transactions, and that it has put in place a robust anti-money laundering framework to counter such risks in real estate transactions.
The government also requires regulated private sector ‘gatekeepers’ involved in real estate transactions to comply with anti-money laundering requirements by conducting checks to identify and verify the identity of their customers, including beneficial owners, the ministry said .
Where there are higher risks, gatekeepers should also verify their clients’ sources of wealth, the report said.
The financial institutions involved must know the customers and the purpose of the transactions and, if necessary, the sources of the funds.
“The requirements are strict and comparable to the standards in leading financial centers. Obligations are also imposed on lawyers who handle the transactions, real estate sellers and real estate agencies. These requirements and obligations are laid down in law,” MinLaw said.
These gatekeepers must also have processes in place to identify and immediately submit a suspicious transaction report to the Police Commercial Affairs Department’s Suspicious Transaction Reporting Center as soon as they discover suspicious activity that may be related to criminal behavior in their interactions with their customers.
The government is then responsible for analyzing the reported information and taking enforcement action, MinLaw said.
Under the correction directive, Bloomberg will be required to insert a message linking to the government’s clarification about the article on its website and social media posts on Facebook and X.
The Edge Singapore, which republished the Bloomberg article in full, will also have to post these notices on its website and Facebook account.
A check on the afternoon of December 23 revealed a correction notice on the site stating that the original article had been removed.
The Independent Singapore and The Online Citizen, which had published some of Bloomberg’s false statements in their own articles on their websites, will also be required to post the notice, the ministry said. They will also have to do the same on Facebook and Instagram, where they had reposted their articles.
Both carried the correction notices with them. The Independent Singapore also removed the article.
Goh Yan Han is a political correspondent at The Straits Times.