Expressing her disgust over a report by the Sunday Times, Dr Lee Weiling posted on her Facebook page, saying: “I am appalled and disgusted by the The Sunday Times reports that seek to character assassinate my brother and his wife.”
The Strait Times’ Sunday newspaper report, “Disciplinary Tribunal finds Lee Suet Fern guilty of misconduct in handling founding PM Lee Kuan Yew’s last will“, wrote that Mrs Lee Suet Fern was found guilty of grossly improper professional conduct in her handling of the last will of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew by a Disciplinary Tribunal that was appointed by the Chief Justice, Sundaresh Menon.
The report highlighted how Mrs Lee is being described by the two-judge tribunal, as a “deceitful witness, who tailored her evidence to portray herself as an innocent victim who had been maligned” and how Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s conduct was “equally deceitful”.
Dr Lee referred to the report by the Disciplinary Tribunal report on Mrs Lee as “a travesty”.
The Sunday Times report also state how the Disciplinary Tribunal commented that the facts exposed an “unsavoury tale” of how the couple persuaded Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who was in poor health, to sign a new will without his usual lawyer to advise him — which in turn raises questions over Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s plans for 38 Oxley Road property in his final will.
She went on to say, “This all is yet another attempt to rewrite history following on from the secret ministerial committee looking into Lee Kuan Yew’s Will and wishes for 38 Oxley Road. My father knew full well what he was doing. He was clear in his decision for the Will. Lee Kuan Yew on his own drafted an amendment to the Will (a codicil) and executed it 2 weeks later.”
She added, “I continue to be ashamed at Hsien Loong’s disrespect for his father’s dying wish.”
The Disciplinary Tribunal was brought about last year after the Attorney-General’s Chamber referred a case of “possible professional misconduct” case on the part of Mrs Lee, who is formerly a managing partner at law firm Morgan Lewis Stamford, to the Law Society.
AGC stated: “Ms Lee appears to have prepared the Last Will of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and arranged for Mr Lee Kuan Yew to execute it, despite the fact that her husband, Mr Lee Hsien Yang, is one of the beneficiaries under the Last Will”, and that his “share increased under the Last Will”.
Citing the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules, AGC alleged that “(Mrs) Lee’s conduct appears prima facie to be in breach of Rules 25 and 46 of the Professional Conduct Rules”, and that the rules necessitate lawyers to avoid or remove themselves from “a position of conflict”.
Attorney General, Mr Lucien Wong is said to have recused himself from this case as he was Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s personal lawyer who assisted him on matters surrounding the 38 Oxley Road property.
Contention of the demolition clause
According to the seventh and last will of late Lee Kuan Yew, founding Prime Minister of Singapore, the property at 38 Oxley Road where he lived all his life, should be demolished, after his death or at the point where his daughter, Dr Lee no longer lives there.
However, this demolition clause is not present in the sixth will — which has been the matter of contention in the public debates back in 2017 where Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong brought the matter to the Singapore Parliament after being accused of abusing his power by Dr Lee and her brother, Mr Lee Hsien Yang in a scathing public letter.
In the joint statement published on 14 June 2017, Dr Lee and Mr Lee Hsien Yang alleged that PM Lee Hsien Loong had abused his power and how the two are being threatened by the current government as a result of refusing to abide PM Lee’s desire to retain the Oxley road estate despite LKY’s wish to demolish the house after his passing.
In that statement, the two wrote, “The values of Lee Kuan Yew are being eroded by his own son. Our father placed our country and his people first, not his personal popularity or private agendas. We are very sad that we have been pushed to this. We feel hugely uncomfortable and closely monitored in our own country. We do not trust Hsien Loong as a brother or as a leader. We have lost confidence in him.”
Most recently, Dr Lee appealed to Singaporeans in a Facebook post last September, to grant her father his unwavering wish.
