PM’s nephew leading ‘happy life’ in US has ‘no intention of going back to Singapore’ to face contempt of court charges
Li Shengwu, the nephew of Singapore’s prime minister, who will face contempt of court proceedings for comments he made suggesting the city state’s courts were not independent, said on Saturday he would not be returning to Singapore.
The office of Singapore’s attorney general said on Friday it will seek to begin contempt of court proceedings against Li, a US-based academic, over Facebook posts he made on July 15. The legal move is the latest twist in a family feud over the fate of late Singapore founding father Lee Kwan Yew’s house that gripped the nation last month.
I have a happy life and a fulfilling job in the US
In his post, Li, nephew of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and a son of Lee’s brother, Lee Hsien Yang, described the Singapore government as “litigious” and the courts as “pliant”.
Li, 32, is currently a junior fellow at Harvard University said he expected to commence an associate professor position with the university in autumn 2018.
He said he would defend himself through legal representation in Singapore but would not be returning to the country.
“I have no intention of going back to Singapore. I have a happy life and a fulfilling job in the US,” he said.
In a statement on Friday, the attorney general’s chambers said it had previously instructed Li to remove the post and issue a letter of apology acknowledging that his comments about the judiciary were baseless.