Lee Hsien Yang turning ‘personal vendetta’ into international smear campaign: Singapore government

SINGAPORE: Mr Lee Hsien Yang is turning a “personal vendetta” into an international smear campaign “against his father, his family and his country”, said the Singapore government on Thursday (Oct 31) after the son of the country’s founding prime minister gave another media interview – the second in slightly over a week – criticising it.

In an interview with The Associated Press (AP), he made a range of claims including saying that Singapore has become much more repressive. 

The article published earlier on Thursday – titled Singapore’s affluent veneer hides repression and corruption, says son of its modern-day founder – also quoted him as saying that corruption has worsened in the decade since the death of his father and founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. 

In response to media queries from AP, the Singapore government said that Mr Lee Hsien Yang was a “major beneficiary of the Singapore system”. 

But having been found by the court and a Disciplinary Tribunal to have misled his father, he has “decided to turn his personal vendetta into an international smear campaign against his father, his family and his country”.

The Singapore government said in its response that AP should consider the facts and conclusions from the Disciplinary Tribunal when assessing the credibility of the claims made by Mr Lee Hsien Yang.

First, the tribunal found that he and his wife Mrs Lee Suet Fern presented “an elaborate edifice of lies” on the execution of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s last will.

Both the Disciplinary Tribunal and later the Court of Three Judges, the highest disciplinary body dealing with lawyers’ misconduct, found Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his wife misled Mr Lee Kuan Yew in the execution of his last will.

They were also found to have lied under oath. 

The findings of the Court of Three Judges and the Disciplinary Tribunal are available online, said the government. 

“I trust that you will also make these available to your readers, so that they can judge for themselves the credibility of the claims now made by Lee Hsien Yang,” it said. 

“NOT BASED ON PRINCIPLES”

Another example of how Mr Lee Hsien Yang has turned his personal vendetta into an international smear campaign is an allegation he made in his asylum application, said the government. 

“Tellingly, he seems to have alleged in his asylum application in the UK that one reason why he and his family are being persecuted by the Singapore government is to prevent his son, Li Shengwu, from being prime minister. That he would go so far as to allege this – though his son has repeatedly said he has no such ambition – shows his campaign against Singapore is not based on principles.”

Mr Lee Hsien Yang said on Oct 22 that he was now a political refugee in the United Kingdom after seeking asylum protection in 2022. Citing the Singapore government’s “attacks” against him, he said he sought asylum protection “as a last resort”.

Mr Lee and his wife have been out of Singapore since 2022 after deciding not to attend a scheduled police interview over potential offences of giving false evidence in judicial proceedings regarding the will of his father.

The government statement also referenced a recent interview Mr Lee Hsien Yang gave to The Guardian, a UK-based newspaper. 

He claimed that Singapore retains repressive measures that originated when his father Mr Lee Kuan Yew was prime minister.

“However, after being called unfilial by Singaporeans for criticising his father thus, Lee Hsien Yang now asserts instead that Singapore’s laws have become much more politically repressive since Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s death.”

The government said that Singapore is the only Southeast Asian country that has held regular elections, without fail and without ever suspending its Constitution or imposing martial law once, in its post-independence history. 

“Singaporeans are free to vote for whichever party they think can better serve Singapore and Singaporeans. About 40 per cent of Singaporeans vote for opposition parties,” said the government, adding that there are now more opposition MPs in parliament than ever before in the history of independent Singapore.

The government added that Mr Lee himself freely participated in politics. 

“He joined an opposition party before the 2020 General Election; considered contesting only to back off at the last minute; and continues to fund and support the opposition from afar.

“Lee Hsien Yang is not a victim of persecution. He and his wife remain citizens. They are and have always been free to return to Singapore.”

SINGAPORE’S FIRM STANCE AGAINST CORRUPTION

In his interview, Mr Lee Hsien Yang cited examples of alleged corruption including the billion-dollar money laundering case and the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal. 

“All the examples of alleged corruption that Lee Hsien Yang cites have been thoroughly addressed, either through the courts or in parliament,” said the government. 

Ten of the offenders involved in the billion-dollar money laundering case have been sentenced in court and had their assets seized. 

Another seventeen individuals who left Singapore have also had their assets frozen and seized, with warrants of arrest and Interpol Red Notices issued against four of them. Interpol Blue Notices were issued against remaining thirteen, said the government. 

Regarding 1MDB, the government said it took “robust actions” against banks and individuals who failed to discharge their anti-money laundering obligations in the case.

It also ordered the closure of the local units of Swiss banks Falcon Private Bank and BSI Bank, imposed financial penalties on eight banks, and issued bans against errant individuals and senior management from working in Singapore’s financial sector, including lifetime bans for six individuals.

In the interview, Mr Lee Hsien Yang also cited the Keppel Offshore & Marine corruption case in Brazil.

The government said this was addressed fully in parliament in February last year, after reaching a global resolution and making full payment of fines to Brazilian authorities. Two former employees of Sembcorp Marine have also been charged in Singapore courts.

Seatrium, the merged entity of Keppel Offshore & Marine and Sembcorp Marine, is currently in discussions with the Public Prosecutor on a deferred prosecution agreement on the alleged corruption offences.

The government statement also mentioned the Wirecard fraud scandal and global commodity trader Trafigura. 

“The Wirecard fraud scandal and lapses took place in Germany, where the cases are now being dealt with. Former executives of Wirecard are on trial in Munich,” said the government.

Singapore has also imposed financial penalties on four financial institutions found to have inadequate anti-money laundering controls in the fraud scandal. Former Singapore-based employees of Wirecard have also been sentenced to jail for criminal breach of trust.

“Trafigura may be headquartered in Singapore, but it has several regional hubs in various jurisdictions. Should it conduct illicit activities in Singapore, we will certainly take action against it. As seen in the money laundering case, we have robust controls to detect, deter and prosecute financial crimes.”

The government said that Singapore has always acted “firmly and decisively” against those who break the country’s laws. 

“Recently, a former minister was sentenced to a year in prison for accepting gifts. If he had been a minister elsewhere he would not have been charged for accepting such gifts, let alone sentenced to a year in prison,” it said, referring to former transport minister S Iswaran. 

“Just as Mr Lee Kuan Yew acted when he was prime minister, neither Mr Lee Hsien Loong nor his successor Mr Lawrence Wong prevented their former colleague from being investigated, prosecuted and convicted.”

The government said that Singapore takes a firm stance against corruption and other serious financial crimes. 

“This was the case when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was in Cabinet. And it has remained so even after his passing in 2015, as evidenced by global rankings.”

Singapore was ranked seventh in the 2015 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was alive, and third in the 2015 World Justice Project’s index for the absence of corruption in its legal and law enforcement systems.

As of 2023, eight years after Mr Lee’s passing, Singapore was ranked fifth and third on these indices respectively, said the government. 

“Singapore was also ranked as the least corrupt country in the 2024 Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Report on Perceptions of Corruption in Asia, the US and Australia, a position Singapore has held since 1995.

“Our system is consistent with the international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force. In 2024, we ranked fourth in the Global Financial Centres Index 2024, after New York, London, and Hong Kong.”