Lim Tean Sues Officers Who Arrested Him & Wants a Reply from Them by Tomorrow (15 Oct)

Generally, it’s a bad idea to accuse Singapore law enforcement of not carrying out their duties properly.

Just ask Singapore’s youngest MP, Raeesah Khan.

Precedent or not, that’s not going to stop opposition politician, Lim Tean, from bringing the battle (in court) to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and the officers who arrested him.

Lim Tean Sues Officers Who Arrest Him & Want a Reply from Them by Tomorrow (15 Oct)

On 2 Oct 2020, the image of Lim Tean being arrested by the officers from the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) went viral on Singapore social media.

After a day spent at the police complex, Lim was bailed out by Leong Sze Hian, his client for the trial against PM Lee.

Well, while he was busy fighting the case against Singapore’s most powerful man, it appears that he now has time to deal with other matters.

Namely, the officers, as well as the organisation, who arrested him.

In a Facebook post, Lim’s lawyer, M Ravi, announced that he has served papers to the Director of CAD, IO Desmond Toh and three other officers on Lim’s instructions.

He alleges that the arrest was motivated by an upcoming court hearing on 27 Oct where Lim is being sued for alleged embezzlement.

M Ravi is giving CAD 48 hours to respond.

He said that he “will commence Judicial Review proceedings if I don’t hear from them within the next 48 hours as to whether they will hold their investigation pending Tean Lim’s Judicial Review action against CAD on account of the whole investigative process being irreversibly tainted arising from the unlawful conduct of CAD and the officers in question.”

A judicial review is held to determine if a public body, which in this case is CAD, has acted unlawfully.

The deadline is on 15 Oct 2020 at 5pm. Which is tomorrow lah.

Previously, Lim was scheduled to appear at Police Cantonment Complex on 16 Oct 2020 for an interview.

AGC Notified

Turns out, CAD wasn’t the only one given a deadline.

M Ravi has also served papers to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).

He asks if AGC will be proceeding to take the five officers to court for contempt of court.

Similarly, AGC is also given the deadline of 15 Oct 2020.

Should they not respond by then, Lim’s lawyer will proceed with the lawsuit and will not send any more notices to them.

Two Charges

Previously, when Lim was arrested by CAD on 2 Oct at his office, he alleges that the arrest was politically motivated as he was preparing to defend his client on a defamation case against PM Lee.

The allegation was pretty strong so the SPF published Lim’s lawyer letter to prove that they have the right to apprehend him.

After he was bailed out, he sat down in front of the camera and explained the two alleged offences that he was being investigated for.

The first charge, which he is going to court for on 27 Oct, involves him allegedly “stealing” his client’s money.

There’s a lot more to it, which you can read here, but that’s the basic premise.

The second charge involves him allegedly stalking a girl who used to be his staff.

Lim said that he has “never stalked anyone in his life” and pointed out that the girl in action was a disgruntled employee he had to let go of.

As for what AGC and CAD’s responses to Lim’s actions will be, I guess we’ll only know on 15 Oct 2020 at 5pm.

You can read Lim’s lawyer full Facebook post below:

And you can read Lim Tean’s defence here.