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10-08-2023, 08:18 AM
Selina Lum
Senior Law Correspondent
UPDATED 11 HOURS AGO
SINGAPORE - After a seven-year court battle, a former honorary treasurer of the Singapore Chess Federation (SCF) has won a defamation suit against 21 members of the organisation who had signed a letter that falsely accused him of sexual misconduct.
Businessman Jasmin Nisban was awarded $120,000 by a district judge, who said aggravated damages were warranted against the 21 defendants.
The defendants, many of whom have occupied high-level positions in government as well as in the private sector, had signed a requisition letter between November 2015 and Jan 6, 2016, seeking to overthrow the sitting president and executive council, including Mr Nisban.
The letter stated that Mr Nisban and another council member had been “implicated” in an incident of sexual misconduct at the SCF office in Bishan on Aug 30, 2015, which led a female chess trainer to resign and file a police report.
What actually took place was that Mr Nisban was present in the room when the other council member made a remark to the trainer that she felt was insulting. Mr Nisban was later interviewed as part of investigations.
In a 427-page judgment dated July 31, 2023, district judge Tan May Tee said a member who reads the offending statements would take them to mean that Mr Nisban was one of the two council members accused of sexual misconduct.
She said: “Naming the plaintiff as one of the two council members implicated in the sexual misconduct incident without distinguishing the different roles they played... had the effect of tarnishing both council members with the same brush of shame.”
Much more at: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/c...accusation
Senior Law Correspondent
UPDATED 11 HOURS AGO
SINGAPORE - After a seven-year court battle, a former honorary treasurer of the Singapore Chess Federation (SCF) has won a defamation suit against 21 members of the organisation who had signed a letter that falsely accused him of sexual misconduct.
Businessman Jasmin Nisban was awarded $120,000 by a district judge, who said aggravated damages were warranted against the 21 defendants.
The defendants, many of whom have occupied high-level positions in government as well as in the private sector, had signed a requisition letter between November 2015 and Jan 6, 2016, seeking to overthrow the sitting president and executive council, including Mr Nisban.
The letter stated that Mr Nisban and another council member had been “implicated” in an incident of sexual misconduct at the SCF office in Bishan on Aug 30, 2015, which led a female chess trainer to resign and file a police report.
What actually took place was that Mr Nisban was present in the room when the other council member made a remark to the trainer that she felt was insulting. Mr Nisban was later interviewed as part of investigations.
In a 427-page judgment dated July 31, 2023, district judge Tan May Tee said a member who reads the offending statements would take them to mean that Mr Nisban was one of the two council members accused of sexual misconduct.
She said: “Naming the plaintiff as one of the two council members implicated in the sexual misconduct incident without distinguishing the different roles they played... had the effect of tarnishing both council members with the same brush of shame.”
Much more at: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/c...accusation
