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SINGAPORE: Evidence in the High Court defamation trial brought by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong against the editor-in-chief of the sociopolitical website The Online Citizen (TOC) concluded on Thursday (December 3), when the late Lee’s attorney Kuan Yew took the stand.
Madam Kwa Kim Li, who prepared the founding prime minister’s first six wills from 2011 to 2012, was summoned to testify in October by TOC editor Terry Xu.
He requested that the subpoena be vacated, but Judge Audrey Lim dismissed the request Thursday morning.
Dressed in a dark green cheongsam, Mdm Kwa took the stand for just half an hour in the afternoon, and Xu’s lawyer, Lim Tean, asked him about the details of the email and if he had told Lee Kuan Yew that the house of his family had not been listed as a heritage building.
The only other witnesses, PM Lee and Mr. Xu, testified during the past three days.
The defamation lawsuit centers on an article published in TOC in August last year, entitled: “PM Lee’s wife Ho Ching strangely shares an article on severing ties with family members.”
READ: Would have removed article if PM Lee had not released demand letter, says TOC editor in libel lawsuit
Since 2017, Prime Minister Lee has been embroiled in a dispute with his brothers, Dr. Lee Wei Ling and Mr. Lee Hsien Yang, over the fate of their family home at 38 Oxley Road after their father’s death. .
The TOC article, PM Lee’s attorneys have said, contains repeated false accusations by his brothers that seriously hurt his character and reputation.
This includes an allegation that Prime Minister Lee had misled his father into believing that the Oxley Road property had been listed as a heritage building by the government and therefore it was futile for Lee Kuan Yew to uphold his order of demolish it.
PM Lee’s lawyers also said the article alleged his father removed him as executor and trustee of his will, after learning in late 2013 that the property had not been published.
Xu’s defense is that the article does not establish a link between PM Lee’s removal as executor and the time his father allegedly learned that the property had not been published.
WANTED GAZETTE AT LEAST TWICE
Mdm Kwa was the only witness on Thursday. The real estate attorney is a managing partner of the Lee & Lee law firm, which was founded by the late Mr. Lee. Mdm Kwa is the niece of his late wife, Kwa Geok Choo.
Lim led her through several emails about the wills she prepared for the late Mr. Lee, who she had signed for 15 months between August 2011 and November 2012.
The fifth and sixth wills, dated September 20 and October 4, 2012, did not have a demolition clause.
He signed a final seventh will, with the demolition clause reinserted, in December 2013. Mdm Kwa did not handle this will.
The clause stated his wish that the Oxley Road house, where he had lived since 1945, be demolished after his death or when Dr. Lee moved out.
READ: Singapore in ‘very sad state’ if I depend on living in the Oxley Road house to ‘exude magical aura’: PM Lee on defamation trial
It is not clear why he changed his mind about the clause between the different versions of his will.
An email that Mr. Lim asked him to view was dated September 6, 2012. Lee Kuan Yew had sent it to Mdm Kwa and Dr. Lee with the subject title “Oxley.”
The court previously heard that she wrote: “Although it has been listed as a heritage house, it is still mine as the owner.”
PM Lee testified that he was not part of this email chain and found out only after his father’s death, but accepted that at this point the late Mr. Lee believed the house had been published.
In the printout of the email, Mdm Kwa had handwritten in reference to Lee Kuan Yew: “I can’t find the gazette, I told him.”
READ: TOC defamation lawsuit – Siblings’ animosity is evident, but PM Lee hopes’ things can be fixed ‘one day
When asked by Mr. Lim how many times she had looked at the property for a newsletter, she said she couldn’t remember “but at least twice.”
The first time was at the time of email. The second time was “maybe a few days later” when he asked a legal colleague to review it.
“Did you inform Lee Kuan Yew at all times after your searches?” Mr. Lim asked.
“The answer would be privileged,” Mdm Kwa replied, referring to attorney-client privilege.
CLOSE SHIPMENTS IN FOUR WEEKS
In a printout of another email he sent to Lee Kuan Yew on October 2, 2012, two days before he signed the sixth will, he again handwritten: “Loong has free rein” and “He can handle the cabinet”.
Mr. Lim confirmed with Mdm Kwa that these sentences were referring to PM Lee, before moving on to another email dated two weeks later.
Mdm Kwa had made a handwritten note – “I can’t find the Oxley Gazette” – in this email to Lee Kuan Yew. She confirmed in court that that meant she couldn’t find any documents showing that the house had been published.
READ: Court documents claim PM Lee ‘suffered loss and damage’ following publication of The Online Citizen article
Towards the end of the hearing, Mr. Lim confirmed with Mdm Kwa that he sent letters on June 4 and 22, 2015 to the three Lee brothers. This was approximately two months after his father’s death.
PM Lee and Dr. Lee had requested records of their prior wills, notes, emails and information from Mdm Kwa about the house. She provided them.
After Lim’s questioning, PM Lee’s attorney, lead attorney Davinder Singh, told the court that he had no questions for Mdm Kwa.
Both parties must submit their final written submissions within the next four weeks. Judge Lim will decide in due course whether Mr. Xu is liable for defamation.
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