Lawyers for Bloomberg said the company had apologised over the report in question.

The damages follow a Bloomberg article on August 5 about the appointment of Madam Ho Ching, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's wife, in May this year as executive director of Temasek Holdings, the government's powerful investment agency.

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Deputy Prime Minister Lee accepted Bloomberg's apology and the amount offered for defamation, according to a letter from lawyers Drew and Napier Inc, received by Reuters on Thursday.

The lawyers, representing the three men, said that under the agreement, Bloomberg would pay S$210,000 to Goh, S$180,000 to Senior Minister Lee and another S$180,000 to Deputy Prime Minister Lee, who is also finance minister and head of the central bank. An additional S$25,000 will be paid in costs.

"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," the lawyers said.

"However our clients have noted how your clients have in good faith moved expeditiously to resolve the matter."

Law firm Kenneth Tan Partnership said its client Bloomberg had published an apology to the three men over the article by US-based columnist Patrick Smith.

The government said earlier this week that Ho's appointment to Temasek was "on merit and through proper process".

Temasek holds stakes in about 40 of the nation's largest companies, including Singapore Airlines, Singapore Telecommunications and banking giant DBS Group.

In the past the government has countered concerns about the appointment of Ho, and other members of the Lee family to state-linked companies, with arguments about a shortage of talent and the need for Singapore to be steered by an elite who know the ropes. .

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