Lim Tean found guilty of practising as a lawyer without valid certificate

SINGAPORE – Lawyer Lim Tean attended court hearings on behalf of his clients on 32 occasions without a practising certificate between April 1 and June 9 in 2021, the court heard.

On July 26, Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun convicted the 59-year-old opposition politician of three charges under the Legal Profession Act after a trial.

The judge said that it was not disputed that Lim was issued a practising certificate dated June 10, 2021, which came into force that day.

With this conviction, the founder of the Peoples Voice party still has pending charges for offences that include criminal breach of trust. These other charges will be dealt with at a later date.

Deputy public prosecutors Edwin Soh and Bryan Wong stated in their submissions that over a period of more than two months, Lim attended court hearings and submitted many documents to court while not having a valid practising certificate.

They added: “Instead of pleading guilty as a sign of remorse, the accused claimed trial. His conduct during the trial was demonstrative of his guilt. The accused had no valid defence to his charges.

“He elected to remain silent and chose not to call any witnesses when the defence’s case was called. Further, he repeatedly attempted to delay the proceedings using... irrelevant constitutional arguments based on him being ‘singled out for prosecution’ by the public prosecutor.”

The DPPs also stressed that his criminal trial at the State Courts was not the proper forum to determine his constitutional arguments.

The prosecutors said that that Lim had made several attempts to delay proceedings.

For instance, they highlighted that the trial was scheduled to begin on Aug 29, 2023, but did not proceed as he had discharged his earlier defence lawyer, Mr Sankar Saminathan, that day.

Lim had told the court that he decided to discharge Mr Sankar as they had “fundamental disagreements” on how to handle his defence.

The court then granted the adjournment before that trial proceeded later in 2023.

During the trial, the court heard that Lim

did not obtain his practising certificate for two months in 2021

as he had not paid his professional indemnity insurance.

According to the Singapore Courts’ website, lawyers must apply for their practising certificate every practice year, which runs from April 1 each year to March 31 of the following year.

The Law Society of Singapore’s website states that lawyers need to fulfil certain stipulations to get a practising certificate.

These include having professional indemnity insurance and fulfilling continuing professional development requirements.

The compulsory professional indemnity insurance covers lawyers against civil liability when providing legal services.

DPP Soh had said that Lim had paid the professional indemnity insurance only in June 2021, and his practising certificate for the practice year of 2021 to 2022 was issued only on June 10, 2021.

According to the prosecution, Lim sued out of a writ of summons on April 1, 2021, and carried on or defended court proceedings in the name of his clients on 32 occasions.

The DPPs told Judge Ong that Lim also prepared documents and instruments relating to court proceedings in Singapore on 32 occasions.

On Dec 27, 2023, Ms Rejini Raman, a former assistant director at the compliance department of the Law Society, who had communicated with Lim during that time, testified that applications for the certificate open on March 1 with the final application deadline on April 30.

To apply, lawyers would need to get their professional indemnity insurance from a company called Lockton, she added.

Referring to a WhatsApp exchange between Lim and Ms Rejini, defence lawyer Patrick Fernandez said she had emboldened his client to go to court without a practising certificate.

The exchange Mr Fernandez was referring to occurred on March 31, 2021, during which Lim had asked Ms Rejini for an ad hoc waiver of his continuing professional development requirements.

Lim asked Ms Rejini if he could appear in court in the meantime.

She replied that he could and to let the judge know he was waiting for the waiver approval before submitting the practising certificate approval for the new practice year.

Ms Rejini told the court on Dec 27 that she did not know Lim had not paid his professional indemnity insurance until or around May 11, 2021.

She said the Law Society does not have powers to grant exemption for lawyers to practise without a practising certificate.

Ms Rejini later clarified she was trying to assist Lim and not authorise him to go to court without a practising certificate.

She added that the responsibility for practising certificate renewal falls on the lawyer, and not on the Law Society.

Lim’s mitigation and sentencing will take place in November.