Trouble is brewing in the courts.
This time, we are reminded of the 38 Oxley Road dispute, as members of the first family are making headlines again.
Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his wife, Mrs Lee Suet Fern, are currently under police investigation for potential offences after allegedly giving false evidence in judicial proceedings, according to Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean on Thursday.
What Exactly Are the Offences?
In 2020, the Court of Three Judges and a disciplinary tribunal found that the couple had lied under oath during disciplinary proceedings against Mrs Lee over her management of the late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s will.
Mrs Lee had been referred to a disciplinary tribunal by the Law Society over her preparation and execution of Mr Lee’s last will.
His last will differed significantly from his sixth and penultimate will, as it did not have several changes that he wanted and discussed with his lawyer Kwa Kim Li a few days earlier.
Some differences include the demolition clause, which refers to the demolition of the Lee family’s residence at 38 Oxley Road, which was not in the sixth penultimate will but in the last.
A disciplinary tribunal was assembled after Mrs Lee’s role in the will sparked a complaint about possible professional misconduct by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to the Law Society.
The tribunal found her guilty of grossly improper professional conduct. She was then referred to the Court of Three Judges, the highest disciplinary body to deal with lawyers’ misconduct.
On Thursday, Mr Teo mentioned that both the court and tribunal found that Mr Lee and Mrs Lee had lied under oath.
According to the tribunal’s report, he stated that the couple had presented “an elaborate edifice of lies”, both “on oath” and “through their public and other statements.”
Their affidavits had also apparently contained lies that “were quite blatant.”
The police have since started investigating them for their potential offences, requesting an interview they initially agreed to attend, “following a referral in October 2021,” according to a police spokesman on Thursday night.
However, they did not show up to the interview, which was scheduled for June 2022. After postponing it to July 2022, they did not participate again due to a “change of heart.” They are now overseas and remain out of the country.
The police have informed them that the necessary steps will be taken to continue the investigation despite them leaving the country.
In response, Mr Teo said, “If they maintain their innocence, the investigation will give them a chance to vindicate themselves.”
He added they should “take the full opportunity to give their side of the story, and clear their names.”
In response to a parliamentary question, Mr Teo stated that Mr Lee Kuan Yew had signed “a document which was in fact not that which he had indicated he wished to sign.”
The Court of Three Judges suspended Mrs Lee from practising as a lawyer for 15 months.
How True Are the Accounts of This Incident?
Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC, had filed a parliamentary question regarding the accuracy of the accounts in an e-book titled The Battle Over Lee Kuan Yew’s Last Will.
In response, Mr Teo stated that the book’s author “claims to have spent a year scrutinising to shine a light on the events. However, the book is not credible, as it totally ignores the facts and findings which had been established, after an objective and thorough examination of the case, by the Court of Three Judges in November 2020 and a disciplinary tribunal in February 2020.”
He later added that Mrs Lee had “focused primarily on what her husband wanted done.” She only had one motive: to “execute the last will quickly.”
The author of the book, Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh, who runs Jom, a weekly digital magazine that covers several topics such as arts and politics in Singapore, came forward to defend the conclusions in the book.
He reinforced the fact that the content of the book was the product of a year’s worth of research based on “the compilation of affidavits, pleadings, formal documents and submissions.”
Lee Hsien Yang’s Response
Lee Hsien Yang mentioned in a Facebook post on Thursday night that “the persecution” of his family by the authorities remains “unabated.”
“In 2020, they prosecuted my wife over (Lee Kuan Yew)’s 2013 will. I was the real target. The relentless attacks continue.”
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