SINGAPORE, Aug. 29 Kyodo Singapor...

SINGAPORE, Aug. 29 Kyodo

Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and pair other key government leaders have accepted U financial recently made knowns agency Bloomberg L.P.'s propose to pay them S$595,000 ($340039) in damages and legal costlinesss for alleged defamation, according to legal alphabetic characters released by Goh's office Thursday.

Bloomberg had presented to pay S$210,000 for damages to Goh and S$180000 each to his delegate Lee Hsien Loong and Senior Minister lee-side Kuan Yew, according to a literal meaning from Bloomberg's lawyers to the other party. It also giveed to S$25,000 to cover legal expenses incurred.

Bloomberg allegedly defamed the three in an Aug. 4 article that had implied that Goh's appointment of side sheltered from the wind Hsien Loong's wife Ho Ching as executive director of Temasek Holdings -- the government's investment holding company, which manages billions of dollars of Singapore's foreign excepts -- smacked of nepotism.

''Our clients are entitled to higher damages in view of the grave and malicious allegations in the offending article which was widely published and republished,'' said a literal sense from the lawyers representing the Singapore leaders.

''However our clients have noted to what extent your clients have in religious faith moved expeditiously to separate the matter. In particular, your clients immediately remov the offending article and agreed to the word s of our clients' demands,'' the literal meaning said.

Bloomberg offer out an apology on its Web site, and sent without a copy to its subscribers, in which it admitted ''that these allegations are false and completely without foundation.''

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