SINGAPORE: Lawyer and opposition politician Lim Tean, who was set to go to trial on Tuesday (Aug 29) for charges of acting as a lawyer when he was unauthorised, asked for the trial to be adjourned.
He cited disagreements with his lawyer, an alleged delay in the prosecution handing over documents and the fact that he has been “very involved” with campaigning for the Presidential Election.
Mr Lim, 58, faces multiple charges but the trial set for Tuesday was for three charges of operating in the capacity of a lawyer between April 2021 and June 2021 when he did not have a valid practising certificate.
On Tuesday, Mr Lim’s lawyer, Mr Sankar Kailasa Thevar Saminathan of Sterling Law, told District Judge Ong Hian Sun that “the accused has an application to make for himself”.
“He’s actually represented by you, right?” asked Judge Ong.
“I believe he wants to discharge me,” answered Mr Sankar.
When asked to speak, Mr Lim said he wanted to discharge his “good friend” Mr Sankar, who had represented him throughout the proceedings.
“He has tendered his incomparable attention and care to my case, but it has now become apparent in the lead-up to this trial that we have fundamental differences in how to approach the handling of my defence,” said Mr Lim.
Mr Lim said he felt neither he nor Mr Sankar would “take it personally”, adding that he wanted to engage new counsel to represent him.
“The prosecution bundle (of documents) was only served on us last week,” added Mr Lim. “I do not know why there was a delay in the service of the prosecution bundle. The matter was set down for trial months ago. It is a thick bundle, and I will need time to engage a new counsel to go through the material and certain other applications may have to be made.”
Mr Lim said the service of the bundle at “such a late stage” came at “a most inopportune time”.
“As many people know, this came about really only this month. I have been very involved in the campaigning for one of the presidential contenders, and I am still very involved, so that has hardly left me time to prepare for the trial,” said Mr Lim.
He is a seconder for presidential candidate Mr Tan Kin Lian.
PROSECUTION OBJECTS
Deputy Public Prosecutors Edwin Soh and Ong Xin Jie objected to Mr Lim’s application.
Mr Soh said while the bundle was served only last week, he said there were actually “no timelines for us to serve the bundle” because of the type of case it was, and “we could have served it today at trial”.
“Actually, this is a very simple trial,” said Mr Soh. “It’s a trial whereby the accused person did not have a valid practising certificate between Apr 1, 2021 and Jun 9, 2021, but he still proceeded to attend court hearings and prepare court documents.
“So the ‘thick bundle’ of exhibits as the accused put it are actually documents that are familiar to him already, because these are his practising certificate, application for practising certificate, documents he prepared.”
On the second point that Mr Lim had no time to prepare for the trial because he was busy campaigning, Mr Soh said trial dates had been set in March.
“Your honour, the accused would have been well aware of this trial date and yet, what he does in his free time, whether he chooses to prepare for the trial or the campaign, that’s his prerogative, but he knew about the trial dates. Nevertheless, he chose not to prepare. He made his bed and now he must lie in it,” said Mr Soh.
He said the prosecution were not notified about Mr Lim’s application to discharge his counsel, and that Mr Lim did it only on the day of the trial itself.
“The prosecution submits that this move is just a delaying tactic, to delay the trial, and I say, it’s also an abuse of process to do so right on the day of trial itself,” said Mr Soh.
“So the application to adjourn the trial should be denied, and the trial should proceed. I understand Mr Lim Tean is also a very experienced lawyer, he should be able to conduct his trial himself.”
In response, Mr Lim said he wanted to exercise his constitutional right to have representation and hinted that he might want to take certain matters further.
“Nobody could have foreseen that I would’ve been placed in the path of a presidential campaign. I had no idea when the trial dates were set months ago that I would be involved, or that my preferred candidate would actually enter the race,” said Mr Lim.
He added that in his 33 years as a lawyer, he has never advised a person to go to trial representing himself.
“I think that is a bad move, and I have never ever advised any client on doing that. Your honour, this is not some delay tactic or gimmick sprung on the court at the last minute. This is something that came about as I was doing whatever preparations I could with Mr Saminathan and we realised that our approaches did not gel,” he said.
Judge Ong told Mr Lim to engage a new lawyer by Wednesday. Otherwise, he told Mr Lim that he was “more than ably qualified” to represent himself.
“I do not take that position,” said Mr Lim. “My practice is not in the criminal field. My practice is in the civil field.”
“Yes, but I have seen you appearing in my (criminal) court a few times, at least,” said the judge.
“Not really, your honour, I do not recall,” answered Mr Lim.
“I do. You can check,” said Judge Ong.
Mr Lim will return to court on Wednesday with a new counsel, who will likely ask for an adjournment of the trial.
On top of the three charges the trial is set to deal with, Mr Lim faces other criminal charges including criminal breach of trust for misappropriating S$30,000 (US$22,161) awarded to a client.
He was also found guilty by a disciplinary tribunal in separate proceedings of grossly improper conduct in the way he handled the S$30,000.