Lee Hsien Yang asks DPM Teo if ministerial commitee should be 'opining on a private dispute'

Prime Minister's younger brother Mr Lee Hsien Yang took to Facebook on Monday (July 3) to continue the attack on the ministerial committee set up to consider options for his father's house. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Hours before the Parliament debate on the Oxley Road dispute, the Prime Minister's younger brother Mr Lee Hsien Yang took to Facebook on Monday (July 3) morning to continue the attack on the ministerial committee set up to consider options for his father's house.

He repeated his case that the committee, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, has no business "opining on a private dispute between the PM and his siblings" and asked if DPM Teo "believes that a secret ministerial committee is the right forum for re-examining a court-proved will".

Mr Lee and his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, have over the past weeks, accused PM Lee Hsien Loong of misusing his power and of not honouring their father and founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's wish to demolish the family home at Oxley Road.

PM Lee will make a ministerial statement in Parliament on Monday to respond to his siblings' allegations.

In Mr Lee Hsien Yang's Facebook post, he takes issue with a letter from the committee last year, on how it has been consulting the Attorney-General's Chambers.

"It involved the Attorney-General's Chambers over LHL's (Lee Hsien Loong's) private matters."

PM Lee's siblings have said that the comittee was set up to bypass the courts and to focus on their brother's wish to block their father's wish to demolish the Oxley Road house. The younger Lee said that PM Lee's former personal lawyer Lucien Wong had also made such attacks. Mr Wong is now the Attorney-General.

Mr Lee Hsien Yang also released a copy of a May 12 2017 letter that he and his sister, who are joint trustees of the late Mr Lee's estate, sent to National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, who is a member of the committee.

In it, the siblings point out that PM Lee had made a statutory declaration on Feb 27 this year, accepting that it was the late Mr Lee's "unwavering wish to demolish the house".

"In fact, it was not only his unwavering wish, but also that of his wife… The clear admission by LHL should end the committee's inquiry," they wrote.

They added: "If the Government decides to exercise its legislative power to acquire or preserve the house, it will be acting on this unwavering wish."

The younger Lee siblings also deemed "nonsensical" how the committee and PM Lee had persisted in trying to establish whether the late Mr Lee was "prepared to accept preservation of his property".

They also said in the letter that several aspects of the committee have not been disclosed, including its members and the options that are being considered for the house.

Over the weeks, the siblings have made repeated charges that the "secret" committee of PM Lee's "subordinates" had refused to be fair and transparent about its composition and its work.

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