SINGAPORE - Lawyer and opposition politician Lim Tean will be charged in court on Thursday (May 12) with criminal breach of trust, unlawful stalking and acting as an advocate or solicitor without a valid practising certificate.
He is alleged to have misappropriated $30,000 that was awarded to a former client as settlement with respect to a motor injury civil suit and entrusted to him in November 2019, said the police in a statement on Tuesday.
The unlawful stalking charge relates to his alleged harassment of a former employee in 2020, while she was working at his law firm, Carson Law Chambers.
And he purportedly acted as an advocate or solicitor without a valid practising certificate on 66 separate occasions between April 1 and June 9 last year.
The police also said investigations against Mr Lim for other matters are ongoing.
Shortly after the police statement was issued on Tuesday, Mr Lim posted a seven-minute video on his Facebook page, in which he disputed the charges.
Mr Lim is the founder of political party Peoples Voice (PV), which contested Jalan Besar and Pasir-Punggol GRCs as well as the Mountbatten SMC in the 2020 General Election.
But the party failed to win any seats. The PV team in Jalan Besar - which Mr Lim headed - clinched only 34.64 per cent of the votes, losing to the People’s Action Party (PAP) team led by current Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo.
The PV team also lost the three-way fight in Pasir-Punggol GRC, receiving the lowest share of votes at 12.17 per cent. PAP won with 64.16 per cent of the votes, while Singapore Democratic Alliance received 23.67 per cent of the votes.
Mr Sivakumaran Chellappa, the PV candidate contesting Mountbatten SMC, lost to PAP’s Lim Biow Chuan, who won 73.82 per cent of the votes.
If guilty of criminal breach of trust, Mr Lim can be punished with life imprisonment or jail of up to 20 years and a fine.
He can also be jailed for up to a year, or fined up to $5,000, or face both penalties, if found guilty of unlawful stalking.
If guilty of being an unauthorised person acting as an advocate or solicitor, Mr Lim can be jailed for up to six months, fined up to $25,000, or both.
