Lim Tean's trial delayed again as opposition party leader comes down with gastroenteritis
SINGAPORE — It was meant to be the first day of his already-postponed trial, but lawyer Lim Tean who is also leader of opposition party Peoples Voice did not show up in court on Monday (Dec 11), and instead had his defence counsel produce a medical certificate for gastroenteritis on his behalf.
The 58-year-old is set to contest three charges brought against him for acting as a lawyer without a valid practising certificate under the Legal Profession Act.
In addition to the three charges set aside for trial, Mr Lim also faces four other charges, which include criminal breach of trust for misappropriating his client's money, and unlawfully stalking his ex-employee.
No decision has been made yet on how the remaining charges are to proceed.
His defence counsel Foo Ho Chew said that Mr Lim had slipped the medical certificate under his office door just a few hours before the trial was set to start.
At the start of the hearing, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Edwin Soh addressed the court and called this another one of Mr Lim's "delay tactics", since the trial had been originally fixed to begin on Aug 29.
After that date, Mr Lim had discharged his counsel and was granted an adjournment to seek a new defence counsel, and then granted another adjournment for the new counsel to take instructions, DPP Soh said.
He added that it was only a few hours earlier that the prosecution had gotten the application to seek yet another adjournment because of Mr Lim's medical certificate.
In response, Mr Foo acknowledged that the notice had been given rather late but explained that Mr Lim had said that he felt like he was coming down with Covid-19 on Dec 8 and Mr Foo had then advised him to see a doctor.
However, Mr Lim did not see a doctor until Dec 10, he added.
Mr Foo said that on Sunday, he waited in his office for Mr Lim to hand him the medical certificate but left between 10pm and 11pm when Mr Lim did not turn up.
"I only found the medical certificate in the office this morning, underneath my door," the lawyer added. This was the reason why the medical certificate was uploaded in the court's computer system just two hours before Mr Lim's hearing was scheduled to begin.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Mr Foo said that Mr Lim's diagnosis on the medical certificate was not Covid-19 but gastroenteritis. The condition is commonly associated with food poisoning or “stomach flu”, with symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting due to the inflammation of the stomach or intestines.
Given the circumstances, Mr Foo sought for an adjournment to Dec 27.
The prosecution did not object to the application, stating that it had gotten the investigation officer to call the clinic and ascertained that the medical certificate was issued on Dec 10 at 10.50am.
Mr Lim will return to court on Dec 27 to begin trial.
