Lawyer and politician Lim Tean declared bankrupt: Government gazette
Lawyer and politician Lim Tean outside the State Courts on May 12, 2022. (File photo: CNA/Gaya Chandramohan)
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SINGAPORE: Lawyer and opposition politician Lim Tean has been declared bankrupt, according to a notice published in the government gazette on Friday (Apr 10).
The bankruptcy order was made by the court on Apr 2.
He will have his bankruptcy estates managed by trustees Lau Chin Huat and Yeo Boon Keong of Technic Inter-Asia, the notice stated.
Lim, a veteran lawyer with more than 30 years of practice, is also the founder of the Peoples Voice party and the secretary-general of the People's Alliance for Reform, a grouping of opposition parties.
In a Facebook post on Friday evening, Lim claimed that he was not bankrupt as he had "already settled with the petitioning creditor and the order of court was never extracted".
The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) told CNA that to be discharged from bankruptcy, which is different from a bankruptcy order being annulled, a bankrupt must apply to the court.
"The Official Assignee can also issue a certificate to discharge a bankrupt from bankruptcy if the bankrupt has paid his target contribution in full and a specified period has passed after the administration date of the bankruptcy," the ministry said in response to CNA's queries.
The Official Assignee is a public servant and an officer of the court, who administers the affairs of bankrupts.
In Lim's case, MinLaw said the court has not made any order annulling the bankruptcy order or to discharge him from bankruptcy.
"In any event, the Official Assignee has not issued any certificate to annul the bankruptcy order or to discharge Mr Lim Tean from bankruptcy," it added.
Separately, Lim was fined S$30,000 (US$23,500) on Friday over his conduct in handling a former client’s money.
Even after he was discharged by the client, Lim was found to have received or retained a cheque of S$30,000, which had been the interim payment of the settlement sum to the client.
He was found to have failed to pay the sum into the client account of his firm, breaching the Legal Profession (Solicitors' Accounts) Rules.
Lim is to pay the penalty within 14 days of the judgment, as well as costs of S$12,000.
Additionally, the Court of Three Judges on Friday rejected the Law Society of Singapore’s (LawSoc) bid to have him struck off the roll.
The court found that LawSoc had failed to prove Lim's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt of wrongfully receiving and cashing the cheque.
In February last year, Lim was given six weeks’ jail and a S$1,000 fine for practising law without a valid certificate.
He still faces pending criminal charges and is due for a pre-trial conference at the State Courts later this month.
