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Lee family feud: Singapore court suspends Lee Suet Fern over misconduct in handling Lee Kuan Yew’s will
- Lawyer Lee Suet Fern, the daughter-in-law of Singapore independence leader Lee Kuan Yew, was involved in preparing his final will
- The judges said a substantial period of suspension was merited as the ‘harm’ caused by the top corporate lawyer was at ‘the lower end of the moderate range’
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Lee Suet Fern, the daughter-in-law of Singapore’s late independence leader Lee Kuan Yew, was on Friday handed a 15-month suspension of her licence to practice law in a legal misconduct case that was among the key issues in the political clan’s bitter public feud.
The ruling by the Court of Three Judges, led by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, is final and cannot be further appealed. The case was referred to the judges in February after a disciplinary panel found the corporate lawyer guilty of improper conduct in directly handling the final version of the elder statesman’s will.
Lee Suet Fern, one of the country’s legal heavyweights, is married to Lee Hsien Yang, the youngest of Lee Kuan Yew’s three children.
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The late patriarch’s eldest son is Singapore’s current prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong.
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The allegations against Lee Suet Fern were brought by the country’s Law Society, which alleged that the lawyer managed every aspect of the will’s drafting, and failed to advise Lee Kuan Yew to seek legal counsel from a third party to avoid a conflict of interest – given that her husband was a beneficiary of the will.
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