Lee Hsien Yang and his wife Lee Suet Fern have left Singapore after refusing to go for a police interview which they had initially agreed to attend. - ST FILE, STAMFORD LAW
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): The police have opened investigations into Lee Hsien Yang and his wife Lee Suet Fern for potential offences of giving false evidence in judicial proceedings, Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean told Parliament on Thursday (March 2).
The couple have left Singapore after refusing to go for a police interview which they had initially agreed to attend, Teo said in a written reply.
The Court of Three Judges and a disciplinary tribunal had in 2020 found that the couple had lied under oath during disciplinary proceedings against Suet Fern over her handling of Lee Kuan Yew’s last will.
Suet Fern had been referred to a disciplinary tribunal by the Law Society over her role in the preparation and execution of the last will of the late Lee, her father-in-law, who died on March 23, 2015, at the age of 91.
His last will differed from his sixth and penultimate will in significant ways, and did not contain some changes he had wanted and discussed with his lawyer Kwa Kim Li four days earlier.
Among the differences was a demolition clause – relating to the demolition of his 38 Oxley Road house after his death – which had not been in the sixth or penultimate will but was in the last.
This had sparked a complaint by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to the Law Society about possible professional misconduct on Suet Fern’s part, and a disciplinary tribunal was convened to hear the case.
After finding her guilty of grossly improper professional conduct, the tribunal referred the case to the Court of Three Judges, the highest disciplinary body to deal with lawyers’ misconduct.
Teo noted on Thursday that both the court and the tribunal had found that Hsien Yang and Suet Fern lied under oath.
Quoting the tribunal’s report, he said the couple had presented “an elaborate edifice of lies... both on oath... and through their public and other statements”, which had been referred to during the proceedings, and that their affidavits contained lies that “were quite blatant”.
As such, the police have commenced investigations into them for potential offences of giving false evidence in judicial proceedings, said Teo.
He added that as part of the investigations, the police requested an interview with Hsien Yang and Suet Fern, which they initially agreed to attend.
“However, (they) later had a change of heart and refused to attend. Their refusal is disappointing,” he said.
He also said that the police have advised Hsien Yang and Suet Fern to reconsider participating in investigations, but they have since left Singapore and remain out of the country.
The police have thus informed them that necessary steps would be taken to complete the investigations in their absence, added Teo.
“Their refusal to participate raises questions. If they maintain their innocence, the investigation will give them the chance to vindicate themselves,” he said.
“They should participate, take the full opportunity to give their side of the story, and clear their names.”
Teo was responding to a question by Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (Chua Chu Kang GRC) on the accuracy of the events described by an e-book titled The Battle Over Lee Kuan Yew’s Last Will.
It was published in July 2022 by author Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh, who runs Jom, a weekly digital magazine covering arts, culture, politics, business, technology in Singapore.
Zhulkarnain had asked if the book accurately represents the circumstances surrounding the signing of the late Lee’s last will, as found by the disciplinary tribunal and the Court of Three Judges.
To this, Teo said: “Many Singaporeans would prefer to put behind us questions about Lee Kuan Yew’s last will. But there are continuing efforts to rewrite the facts.
“The e-book by Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh... is one such example.”
He added: “Thomas claims to have spent a year scrutinising the evidence 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.”
Besides finding that Hsien Yang and Suet Fern had lied under oath, the court and the tribunal had also found that the couple had misled the late Lee in the context of the execution of his last will, added Teo.
Given this, he said, the court and the tribunal had concluded that Suet Fern was guilty of misconduct.
Teo, citing the findings, said that Suet Fern had “focused primarily on what her husband wanted done”, and “worked together with Lee Hsien Yang, with a singular purpose, of getting (Lee Kuan Yew) to execute the last will quickly”.
Lee Kuan Yew “ended up signing a document which was in fact not that which he had indicated he wished to sign”, added Teo, citing the findings.
Noting that Suet Fern was suspended by the Court of Three Judges from practising as a lawyer for 15 months, Teo said: “This is quite a serious penalty.”
