SINGAPORE: Mr Lee Hsien Yang is popping a “private vendetta” into a world smear marketing campaign “in opposition to his father, his household and his nation”, the Singapore authorities stated on Thursday (Oct 31), after the son of the nation's founding prime minister made an announcement had one other media interview – the second in simply over per week – criticizing it.
In an interview with The Related Press (AP), he made quite a few claims, together with saying that Singapore has change into rather more repressive.
The article, revealed earlier on Thursday, was titled: “Singapore's rich veneer hides repression and corruption, says son of its present founder.”
It quoted him as saying that corruption had worsened within the decade for the reason that demise of his father and founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew.
Responding to media queries from AP, the Singapore authorities stated Mr Lee Hsien Yang was a “main beneficiary of the Singapore system”.
However after the courtroom and a disciplinary tribunal discovered that he had misled his father, he “determined to show his private vendetta into a world smear marketing campaign in opposition to his father, his household and his nation.”
The Singapore authorities stated in its response that AP ought to contemplate the info and conclusions of the disciplinary tribunal when assessing the credibility of Mr Lee Hsien Yang's allegations.
First, the courtroom discovered that he and his spouse, Ms Lee Suet Fern, offered “an elaborate cloth of lies” in regards to the execution of Mr Lee Kuan Yew's final will.
Each the disciplinary tribunal and later the Courtroom of Three Judges, the best disciplinary physique coping with lawyer misconduct, discovered that Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his spouse had misled Mr Lee Kuan Yew within the execution of his final will and testomony .
They had been additionally discovered to have lied beneath oath.
The outcomes of the three-judge courtroom and the disciplinary tribunal can be found on-line, the federal government stated.
“I belief that additionally, you will make these out there to your readers in order that they’ll choose for themselves the credibility of the claims now made by Lee Hsien Yang,” it stated.
“NOT BASED ON PRINCIPLES”
One other instance of how Mr. Lee Hsien Yang turned his private vendetta into a world smear marketing campaign is a declare he made in his asylum utility, the federal government stated.
“Considerably, he seems to have claimed in his asylum utility within the UK that one purpose he and his household are being persecuted by the Singapore authorities is to stop his son Li Shengwu from changing into prime minister.” That he thus far “To say so – though his son has repeatedly stated he has no such ambitions – reveals that his marketing campaign in opposition to Singapore will not be based mostly on ideas.”
Mr Lee Hsien Yang stated on October 22 that he was now a political refugee within the UK after making use of for asylum safety in 2022. He referred to the Singapore authorities's “assaults” in opposition to him and stated he had sought asylum safety “as a final resort”.
Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his spouse have been leaving Singapore since 2022 after deciding not to participate in a deliberate police interview over attainable offenses reminiscent of giving false statements in courtroom proceedings relating to his father's will.
The federal government assertion additionally referred to a current interview given by Mr Lee Hsien Yang to the British newspaper The Guardian.
He alleged that Singapore is sustaining the repressive measures that originated when his father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, was prime minister.
“Nevertheless, after being labeled disloyal by Singaporeans for this criticism of his father, Lee Hsien Yang now as a substitute claims that Singapore's legal guidelines have change into rather more politically repressive for the reason that demise of Mr Lee Kuan Yew,” the assertion stated.
The federal government stated Singapore was the one Southeast Asian nation to have held common elections in its post-independence historical past with out ever having finished so and with out ever having suspended its structure or declared martial regulation.
“Singaporeans are free to vote for the social gathering they consider can higher serve Singapore and Singaporeans. About 40 p.c of Singaporeans vote for opposition events,” the federal government stated.
It added that there have been now extra opposition MPs in Parliament than ever earlier than within the historical past of impartial Singapore and that Mr Lee Hsien Yang himself participated freely in politics.
“He joined an opposition social gathering earlier than the 2020 normal election; considered contesting, solely to again out on the final minute; and continues to fund and help the opposition from afar.
“Lee Hsien Yang will not be a sufferer of the persecution. He and his spouse stay residents. They’re at all times free to return to Singapore.”
Singapore's agency stance in opposition to corruption
In his interview, Mr Lee Hsien Yang cited examples of alleged corruption, together with the multi-billion greenback cash laundering case and the 1Malaysia Improvement Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal.
“All examples of alleged corruption cited by Lee Hsien Yang have been completely addressed, both in courtroom or in Parliament,” the federal government stated.
Ten of the perpetrators concerned within the billion-dollar cash laundering case had been convicted in courtroom and their property confiscated.
The property of one other 17 individuals who left Singapore had been additionally frozen and seized. Arrest warrants and Interpol Pink Notices had been issued in opposition to 4 of them. Interpol Blue Notices had been issued in opposition to the remaining 13, the federal government stated.
Relating to 1MDB, the federal government stated it had taken “powerful motion” in opposition to banks and people who did not adjust to their anti-money laundering obligations on this case.
It additionally ordered the closure of the native branches of Swiss banks Falcon Non-public Financial institution and BSI Financial institution, imposed fines on eight banks and imposed skilled bans on erring people and executives in Singapore's monetary sector, together with lifetime bans for six individuals.
Within the interview, Mr Lee Hsien Yang additionally cited the Keppel Offshore & Marine corruption case in Brazil.
The federal government stated the matter was totally addressed in parliament in February final yr after a world resolution was discovered and fines had been paid in full to Brazilian authorities. Two former Sembcorp Marine workers have additionally been charged in Singapore courts.
Seatrium, the merged firm of Keppel Offshore & Marine and Sembcorp Marine, is at present negotiating a deferred prosecution settlement with prosecutors for the alleged corruption offences.
The federal government assertion additionally talked about the Wirecard fraud scandal and international commodities dealer Trafigura.
“The Wirecard fraud scandal and failures occurred in Germany, the place the instances at the moment are being processed. “Former Wirecard executives are on trial in Munich,” the federal government stated.
Singapore has additionally imposed fines on 4 monetary establishments discovered to have insufficient anti-money laundering controls as a part of the fraud scandal. Former Wirecard workers based mostly in Singapore had been additionally sentenced to jail for felony breach of belief.
“Whereas Trafigura is headquartered in Singapore, it has a number of regional facilities in several jurisdictions. If the corporate carries out unlawful actions in Singapore, we will certainly take motion in opposition to it. As seen within the case of cash laundering, we’ve got strict controls in place to detect, deter and prosecute monetary crimes.”
The federal government stated Singapore has at all times taken “agency and decisive motion” in opposition to those that violate the nation's legal guidelines.
“Not too long ago, a former minister was sentenced to at least one yr in jail for accepting items. “If he had been a minister elsewhere, he wouldn’t have been charged, not to mention sentenced to a yr in jail, for accepting such items,” it stated, referring to former transport minister S. Iswaran.
“Simply 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 federal government stated Singapore takes a robust stance in opposition to corruption and different critical monetary crimes.
“This was the case when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was in Cupboard. And it remained that manner even after his demise in 2015, as international rankings present.”
Throughout Lee Kuan Yew's lifetime, Singapore was ranked seventh in Transparency Worldwide's 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index and third within the World Justice Undertaking's 2015 Index for the absence of corruption in its authorized and regulation enforcement techniques.
In 2023, eight years after Mr Lee's demise, Singapore ranked fifth and third respectively in these indices, the federal government stated.
“Singapore was additionally ranked because the least corrupt nation within the Political and Financial Danger Consultancy Report 2024 on Perceptions of Corruption in Asia, the USA and Australia, a place Singapore has held since 1995.”
“Our system complies with the worldwide requirements of the Monetary Motion Job Pressure. In 2024, we ranked fourth within the 2024 International Monetary Facilities Index, after New York, London and Hong Kong.”