London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

Singapore PM's Brother, His Wife On the Run For Lying Under Oath: Report

Singapore PM's Brother, His Wife On the Run For Lying Under Oath: Report

Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam told Parliament that police named the duo and released information about the case in the public interest.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's younger brother and his wife are on the run after they came under investigation for lying during judicial proceedings related to the will of their late father, Lee Kuan Yew, the founding and first leader of the city-state, Parliament was told on Monday.

Lee Hsien Yang and his lawyer wife, Lee Suet Fern, were found to have lied under oath in 2020 by the Court of Three Judges and a disciplinary tribunal police investigation over the latter's handling of the last will of founding Prime Minister Lee, who died on March 23, 2015, at the age of 91.

Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam told Parliament that police named the duo and released information about the case in the public interest.

The disclosure did not cause any material prejudice to the couple as their conduct was already a matter of public record, given that a disciplinary tribunal and a court found that the duo had lied.

Responding to questions, Mr Shanmugam said that while the general principle is that law enforcement agencies do not disclose the names of people under probe, in a wide variety of situations, it may be necessary to do so.

Police typically disclosed names in situations where those being investigated have evaded authorities, the minister said. He added that in case public interest is involved in the investigation or if the people and facts of the offences under probe are already publicly known, police make investigations public.

The circumstances relating to Lee and his lawyer wife straddle these two examples, Mr Shanmugam said, adding that the couple absconded after the police contacted them to assist in investigations.

The findings of the tribunal and the court - that the couple was not telling the truth and were dishonest - are also already matters of public record, and thus, disclosing the police investigation in Parliament will not "materially add to any cloud the couple may already be under", the Straits Times newspaper quoted Mr Shanmugam as saying.

The couple left Singapore after refusing to go for a police interview that they had initially agreed to attend, Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean told Parliament earlier this month.

Police later said they left Singapore after being engaged in June 2022 and have not returned since.

Fern, 64, 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 city-state's founding Prime Minister, which differed from his sixth and penultimate will in significant ways. It did not contain some changes Lee had wanted and discussed with his lawyer, Kwa Kim Li, a few days earlier.

Among the differences was a demolition clause - relating to the demolition of Lee's 38 Oxley Road house after his death - which had not been in the sixth or penultimate will but was in the last.

This clause became a sticking point among the late Lee's children.

Fern's role in the will had sparked a complaint by the Attorney-General's Chambers to the Law Society about possible professional misconduct on her part.

After the disciplinary tribunal found her guilty of grossly improper professional conduct, it referred the case to the Court of Three Judges, the highest disciplinary body to deal with lawyers' misconduct.

Fern was suspended by the Court of Three Judges from practising as a lawyer for 15 months, according to The Straits Times newspaper.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×