Law Society of Singapore calls for fugitive lawyer Charles Yeo to be disbarred
Yeo, who fled Singapore in 2022 after being charged over alleged criminal offences, was absent from the hearing.
Charles Yeo arriving at the State Courts on Jan 19, 2022.
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SINGAPORE: The Law Society of Singapore sought to have fugitive Singapore lawyer Charles Yeo struck off the rolls via court proceedings at the Supreme Court on Thursday (Sep 11).
Yeo, who absconded from Singapore in 2022 while facing criminal charges, was absent for the matter, which was heard before the Court of Three Judges, the highest disciplinary body for lawyers.
As Yeo was also not represented by a lawyer, the case proceeded in absentia.
Counsel for the Law Society, Mr Danny Ong, told Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Justices of the Court of Appeal Tay Yong Kwang and Steven Chong that Yeo had not responded to court notifications or emails forwarded by way of serviced papers, nor had he indicated his participation.
Yeo, 35, remains out on bail in the United Kingdom pending proceedings there, Mr Ong said.
While Yeo had been practising as a lawyer since 2017, his last practising certificate expired on Mar 31, 2023.
The Law Society's five applications before the Court of Three Judges concern Yeo's conduct as a lawyer in matters which were referred to disciplinary tribunals.
Three related to migrant workers who made workplace injury claims.
The disciplinary tribunals found in these cases that Yeo had failed to verify that the instructions he received from a third party reflected those of the migrant workers.
He also failed to verify that the documents he was presented were executed by the migrant workers. As a result, the compensation money was disbursed to the third party without the workers' consent in two of the cases.
For the remaining two applications, one involved his representation of two death row inmates who made a criminal review application to the Court of Appeal which failed. Yeo then filed another application relying on arguments that had already been rejected in previous hearings.
The last application concerns irregularities in Whitefield Law Corporation's financial records, including how funds from a client were deposited into an office account instead of the client's account, and the failure to maintain proper records.
Mr Ong also referred to Yeo's verbal attacks on the judiciary and the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) on his Instagram in 2022.
At the conclusion of the hearing, he said that the Law Society was of the position that there was "no other appropriate sanction" than having Yeo struck off.
This means that Yeo will be disbarred and will be prohibited from practising law.
Mr Ong said that there was a "serious character defect" which showed that Yeo was "unfit" to be a lawyer.
He said Yeo had exhibited an "abuse of privileges" in terms of his access to the court and his handling of client money.
The Court of Three Judges has reserved its judgment and will deliver it at a later date.
PENDING CRIMINAL CHARGES
In addition to disciplinary proceedings, Yeo currently faces six criminal charges, and is expected to receive more. A warrant of arrest review has been fixed for Sep 23 for his alleged offences.
Yeo, formerly the chairman of the opposition Reform Party, was given the six charges in January 2022:
- One count of uttering words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of another under the Penal Code
- Two counts of attempting to utter words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of another under the Penal Code
- Three counts of making abusive, threatening or insulting communication towards a public servant under the Protection from Harassment Act
While his case was pending, Yeo had applied to travel to Vietnam for work between Jul 27 and Jul 30, 2022.
He was granted permission to travel abroad, but he did not return to Singapore or report to the investigation officer on Aug 1, 2022 when required to.
Instead, he posted an announcement on Instagram on Jul 30, 2022 saying he was seeking "political asylum" in the UK, and that the criminal charges against him were "politically motivated".
A warrant of arrest was issued for him in August 2022.
The AGC and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in November 2024 that Singapore had sent a request to the UK seeking Yeo's extradition.
Yeo was arrested by UK authorities on Nov 4, 2024 and proceedings against him are ongoing.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly cited a case referred to the Law Society's disciplinary tribunal. This has been removed. We apologise for the error.
