Lee Hsien Yang hints at never returning to Singapore, says he is unlikely to see his 'extremely unwell' sister again

SINGAPORE – Mr Lee Hsien Yang said on Tuesday (March 7) that he may never return to Singapore amid an ongoing police investigation into him and his wife, Mrs Lee Suet Fern.

In a lengthy Facebook post, Mr Lee, the younger son of first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and the brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, also said his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, is now extremely unwell.

“It pains me beyond words that I am unlikely ever to be able to see my sister face to face again,” he wrote.

Dr Lee was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, she said in August 2020, describing it as a brain disease that slows physical movements and eventually leads to dementia with prominent behavioural changes.

Mr Lee’s latest comments come days after Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean told Parliament on Thursday that police have opened investigations into Mr Lee and his wife for the possible offences of lying under oath.

The couple left Singapore after refusing to go for a police interview that they had initially agreed to attend, Mr Teo said in a written reply.

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

In 2020, the Court of Three Judges and a disciplinary tribunal found that the couple had lied under oath during disciplinary proceedings against Mrs Lee, a lawyer, over her handling of the last will of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who died on March 23, 2015, at the age of 91.

Mrs Lee had been referred to a disciplinary tribunal by the Law Society over her role in the preparation and execution of the last will, which differed from his sixth and penultimate will in significant ways, and did not contain some changes he had wanted and discussed with his lawyer, Ms Kwa Kim Li, days earlier.

Among the differences was a demolition clause – relating to the demolition of his 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 Mr Lee’s children.

Mrs Lee’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.

Mrs Lee was suspended by the Court of Three Judges from practising as a lawyer for 15 months.

On Friday, Mr Lee Hsien Yang also told Bloomberg news agency in a phone interview from Europe that he had been approached by some to contest the upcoming presidential election, which is expected to be called by September 2023, and that he would consider doing so.

However, several lawyers and law academics said the finding by the disciplinary tribunal and Court of Three Judges that Mr Lee had lied under oath may affect his chances of candidacy.

In his Facebook post on Monday, Mr Lee reiterated the position he and his sister had held on their father’s house.

“Both of us have always accepted that the Singapore Government has the power to preserve our father’s house, but we reject the continued pretence that he had changed his mind, that he was somehow ‘ok’ with it,” he wrote.

Mr Lee also repeated allegations he had previously made on the matter, including of harassment, surveillance and smear campaigns.

He wrote: “After what I have been through, I have no confidence whatsoever in the system.”

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.