A fragile truce in Singapore’s founding family was shattered Monday after state prosecutors alleged the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s estranged brother may be guilty of professional misconduct.
Both PM Lee’s brother and sister are now up in arms against the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), questioning its intentions in intervening in a private family matter.
The allegations mark the latest flare-up in a bitter quarrel between Premier Lee, and his younger brother and sister following the death in 2015 of their father — Singapore’s revered founding leader Lee Kuan Yew.
At the center of the dispute is a century-old family bungalow at 38 Oxley Road, which the late Lee wanted demolished after his death to avoid the creation of a cult of personality. The prime minister’s siblings — Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling — accused their brother of blocking the house’s demolition to capitalize on their father’s legacy for his own political agenda.
The scandal erupted into public consciousness in 2017 and for months gripped a city-state not used to open criticism of its leaders, but had largely died down since the siblings vowed to stop their attacks on social media. But tensions rose again yesterday when prosecutors announced the wife of Hsien Yang, top corporate lawyer Lee Suet Fern, had been referred to a body that oversees the work of lawyers due to possible professional misconduct.
The AGC lodged a complaint (with over 500 pages) that accused Suet Fern of “professional misconduct” for putting herself in a position of conflict. AGC claims that she broke the rules when she prepared the Last Will of Lee Kuan Yew and apparently had her husband’s share increased in the will. The body added that it tried to get clarifications from Suet Fern, but failed to receive proper answers.
Like his sister Wei Ling, the man slammed AGC for getting involved in a private matter and doing so after a significant amount of time since 2015.
“AGC’s assertion that my wife refused to respond is untrue. AGC should release the full correspondence.”
AGC responds
AGC, on its part, chose not to engage further with Hsien Yang and simply noted that the matter has been referred to the Law Society.
“There will be a full hearing before the Disciplinary Tribunal appointed by the Chief Justice. Ms Lee Suet Fern can put forward her case before the Tribunal, in accordance with the Legal Profession Act,” AGC said in a statement, refusing to comment any further on the “merits of the matter”.
With text by AFP
