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SINGAPORE: Lawyer\u00a0and opposition politician Lim Tean has been declared bankrupt, according to a notice published in the government gazette on Friday (Apr 10).\u00a0<\/p>\n
The bankruptcy order was made effective on Apr 2.<\/p>\n
He will have his bankruptcy estates managed by trustees Lau Chin Huat and Yeo Boon Keong of Technic Inter-Asia, the notice stated.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Lim was fined S$30,000 (US$23,500) on Friday over his conduct in handling a former client\u2019s money.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0to the client.<\/p>\n
He was found to have failed to pay the sum into the client account of his firm, breaching the Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Accounts) Rules.<\/p>\n
Lim is to pay the penalty within 14 days of the judgment, as well as costs of S$12,000.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the Court of Three Judges\u00a0on Friday rejected the Law Society of Singapore\u2019s (LawSoc) bid to have him struck off the roll.<\/p>\n
The court found that LawSoc had failed to prove Lim’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt of wrongfully receiving and cashing the cheque.<\/p>\n
In February last year, Lim was given six weeks\u2019 jail and a S$1,000 fine for practising law without a valid certificate.<\/p>\n
He still faces pending criminal charges and is due for a pre-trial conference at the State Courts later this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n