Dr Lee Weiling, in a Facebook post on Friday evening, said that her father, late Lee Kuan Yew knew what he was signing and was the one who dictated the timing of the signing process of his final will.
This Facebook comment is likely to be in response to the recent report released by the Disciplinary Tribunal on her sister-in-law, Mrs Lee Suet Fern (LSF), which found her guilty of grossly improper professional conduct in handling the last will of late LKY — Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, via a series of hearings held last year.
In the report, the Tribunal claimed Mrs LSF as a “deceitful witness, who tailored her evidence to portray herself as an innocent victim who had been maligned”.
The Tribunal also took aim at Dr Lee’s younger brother, Mr Lee Hsien Yang (LHY), by stating that his conduct was “equally deceitful.”
“He lied to the public, he lied to the MC, and he lied to us. He tried to hide how he and his wife had misled his own father, Mr Lee, on the Last Will. He had no qualms about making up evidence as he went along. We found him to be cynical about telling the truth.” wrote the Tribunal.
The Tribunal noted that LKY who was 90 at the time, was very frail and in poor health, signed the last will out of trust in Mrs LSF’s words, namely that the content of the last will’s draft was the same as his first will in 2011.
She did not, however, inform Mr LKY that the draft last will included a demolition clause not present in the sixth will, the tribunal highlighted.
The demolition clause — which concerned the demolition of his family home at 38 Oxley Road — were present in Mr LKY’s first four wills. It was later removed from his fifth and sixth wills.
The tribunal added that Mrs Lee did not seek to confirm if Mr LKY wanted certain other changes to be made — by carefully going through the provisions in the draft of the last will — in the first place.
LKY always been the man in charge;
In contrast to the report findings by the Tribunal, Dr Lee wrote that her father, ” always been the man in charge, including for his final Will and Codicil.”
“Hsien Loong and his AG [Attorney General] have suggested the process was rushed by my brother and/or his wife. But it was my father who dictated the timing” wrote Dr Lee and quoted her father saying, “OK. Do not wait for Kim Li. Engross and I will sign it before a solicitor in Fern’s office, or from any other office”
The hearing by the Disciplinary Tribunal was brought about last year when Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) referred Mrs LSF to the Law Society for a possible professional misconduct case.
The AGC stated that Mrs LSF had prepared the last will of Mr LKY and had arranged for Mr LHY to execute it despite her husband being one beneficiaries. The last will resulted in Mr LHY’s share in the late Mr Lee’s estate being increased.
On its referral of the case to the Law Society, the AGC said: “(Mrs) Lee’s conduct appears prima facie to be in breach of Rules 25 and 46 of the Professional Conduct Rules.”
Dr Lee claims in her Facebook post that her father had told her, himself that he wanted to revert to his 2011 will and was merely wanting a witness.
“He wanted very prompt follow up and was indifferent where the lawyer came from.” wrote Dr Lee.
Dr Lee referred to her brother, Lee Hsien Loong’s oath — in a statutory declaration — stating that “There is no evidence Mr Lee Kuan Yew even knew the demolition clause was re-inserted in the last will.”
“There was incontrovertible evidence.” remarked Dr Lee on this.
Mr LHL who is the current Singapore Prime Minister, said in his statutory declaration that Mr Lee Kuan Yew had given instructions to remove the demolition clause — and it was removed from the two preceding wills — but it “somehow found its way back into the Last Will”.
Dr Lee went on to highlighted how her father read every page, initialed on each page including below the demolition clause on both copies of the will and another time two weeks later. It was said that LKY then drafted and executed a codicil to the will which referenced the will.
“Papa knew what he was signing, and any suggestion otherwise beggars belief.” wrote Dr Lee.
In an earlier post by Mr LHY this Wednesday, he wrote that Mr LHL and the Attorney General, Lucien Wong had alleged that he engineered, with his wife’s help, his father’s final will “final will which gave his children equal shares in order to get a larger share of his Estate”.
He stated that he and his wife played no part in his decision to revert to equal shares. Noting that Mr LHL benefitted equally from this change and the final will got his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling’s right to live at Oxley Road reinstated — “something that she wanted badly”.
He further went on to state that his father and sister, along with himself were led to believe that the house had been gazetted and could therefore not be demolished.
“In 2013, LKY came to a view that the house would be “degazetted” and therefore discussed degazetting with his lawyer, KKL. If it were degazetted, his unwavering wish for the house to be demolished might be realisable. This wish, as everyone knows, mattered greatly to him and my mother.” wrote Mr LHY.
He also noted that no one complained after the signing of the will before LKY died, stating that the probate of the Will was obtained in 2015 on the urging of Mr LHL and his then-personal lawyer, Lucien Wong.
