Former National Solidarity Party (NSP) chief and the founder of People’s Voice Lim Tean wrote on his Facebook page today that he finds the Attorney-General’s Chamber’s (AGC) complaint on Lee Suet Fern absurd and feels that this matter itself should be looked into.
He wrote this in response to the issue where AGC lodged a complaint of 500 pages to Law Society about Lee Suet Fern, a lawyer and the wife of Lee Hsien Yang of possible professional misconduct over Lee Kuan Yew’s final Will.
It appears that the AGC became aware of a possible case of professional misconduct by Ms Lee when she prepared the last Will of the former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and arranged for him to execute it, despite the fact that her husband, Lee Hsien Yang, is one of the beneficiaries under the last Will.
“Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s share increased under the Last Will. AGC also noted that Mr Lee Hsien Yang had said publicly that the Last Will was drafted by Ms Kwa Kim Lee of M/s Lee & Lee. However Ms Kwa Kim Lee has denied that she drafted it,” AGC said in a statement on Monday (7 January).
Under the legal profession’s rule of conduct, lawyers are not allowed to place themselves in a position of conflict, AGC expressed.
Ms Lee, previously a managing partner with law firm Morgan Lewis Stamford, has been in the middle of a dispute between the Lee’s siblings – her husband, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – over the preparation of their father’s last Will.
According to AGC, Attorney-General Lucien Wong has recused himself from the case and Deputy Attorney-General Lionel Yee is overseeing it. Mr Wong used to be PM Lee’s lawyer who handled the Oxley Road matter. However, the other Deputy Attorney-General is Hri Kumar who is a former PAP MP.
In Lim Tean’s post, he said that this is a private matter and what the AGC is doing now is collateral attack on the validity of the Will as it was proven in probate. He added that if this is allowed to go on, then the court’s decisions will be worthless.
He went on further and questioned, “Why is a State Organ involved in a private matter? I hope the Opposition in Parliament will raise relevant questions on this issue when Parliament sits on January 14.”
Adding to that, Mr Lim also wondered whose initiative was it to lodge this complaint.
“A State Organ is involving itself in a private matter and if I am in Parliament, I will call for a Select Committee to look into this matter. I find it outrageous that public funds are being used by the AGC in furtherance of a private dispute,” he said.
He also rubbished the claim that Attorney-General Lucien Wong has recuses himself as there “was never and will never be sufficient justification for this unprecedented step which was taken”.
Supporting Mr Lim’s concerns, many netizens also feel this is a family dispute that should be handled privately, and not involving public funds.
