SINGAPORE - Lawyer and opposition politician Lim Tean, 57, who is accused of multiple offences including stalking, was on Friday handed two more charges – refusing to answer a public servant's questions and a second count of criminal breach of trust as an attorney.
A search on the Ministry of Law's website reveals he is currently the sole proprietor of Carson Law Chambers.
One of his latest charges states that as a solicitor of the firm, he was entrusted with $5,500 in cash paid by AXA Insurance as settlement monies belonging to one Christianne Rameshwaran, whose details were not disclosed in court documents.
Lim is accused of misappropriating the amount on April 3, 2020.
Separately, he was at the Commercial Affairs Department in New Bridge Road on June 10 this year when he allegedly refused to answer questions posed by one of its officers.
According to court documents, Lim was legally bound to state what he knew of the facts and circumstances of a case involving a sum of US$50,000 (S$71,000) paid to him by one Lee Peto, whose details were also not disclosed, on or around Oct 23, 2017.
Lim is said to have refused to answer questions involving the matter when queried by commercial affairs officer Desmond Toh.
Lim was earlier handed five charges for multiple offences in May.
They were for criminal breach of trust as an attorney, unlawful stalking and acting as an advocate or solicitor without a valid practising certificate.
He allegedly committed an earlier criminal breach of trust as a solicitor of the law firm between Nov 14 and Dec 4, 2019.
In an earlier statement, the police said Lim had been entrusted with $30,000, a sum which had been awarded to a former client as settlement in a motor injury civil suit.
Lim is said to have misappropriated the monies.
In an unrelated case, he allegedly stalked a former employee between April and May 2020 by repeatedly sending her flirtatious text messages, causing her distress.
Details about her job were not mentioned in court documents.
Lim is also accused of acting as an advocate or solicitor without a valid practising certificate on 66 separate occasions between April 1 and June 9 last year.
Among other things, he attended a court hearing on April 19 last year as the legal representative for The Online Citizen (TOC) editor Xu Yuanchen, better known as Terry Xu, in a case involving Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
PM Lee had filed two defamation suits over an article published on the TOC website and separately sued Xu and Ms Rubaashini Shunmuganathan, the Malaysian author of the article.
Last September, the High Court awarded Mr Lee a total of $210,000 in damages.
The Singapore Courts website states that every solicitor who wishes to act in the capacity of an advocate and solicitor must apply for a practising certificate.
It added: "For every practice year, every solicitor must apply for a practising certificate before acting in the capacity of an advocate and solicitor.
"The term 'practice year' means the period from April 1 in any calendar year to March 31 in the next calendar year."
Lim’s case has been adjourned for a pre-trial conference on Oct 21.
If convicted of misappropriating $30,000, he can either be jailed for life or receive a sentence of up to 20 years in jail and fined.
For unlawful stalking, an offender can be jailed for up to a year and fined up to $5,000.
