{"id":75769,"date":"2026-08-11T22:23:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=75769"},"modified":"2026-08-11T22:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:23:01","slug":"lim-tean-deported-to-singapore-after-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=75769","title":{"rendered":"Lim Tean deported to Singapore after arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013<!-- --> Lawyer Lim Tean was handed over to the Singapore authorities on Aug 11 following his arrest in\u00a0Johor Bahru.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Singapore Police Force said the Commercial Affairs Department arrested Lim upon his return from Malaysia. The founder of opposition party Peoples Voice was arrested by the Royal Malaysia Police on Aug 6.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He had failed to surrender at the Singapore State Courts on Aug 3 to begin\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/lim-teans-sentence-for-practising-as-a-lawyer-without-valid-certificate-upped-to-3-months-1-week?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">his jail term for practising law without a valid certificate<\/span><\/a>. The arrest warrant was issued against him on the same day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Investigations into the circumstances of his illegal departure are ongoing, police said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The 61-year-old was convicted of three charges under the Legal Profession Act in July 2024, and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/jail-fine-for-lim-tean-after-practising-as-a-lawyer-without-valid-certificate-in-2021?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">sentenced to six weeks\u2019 jail and a fine of $1,000<\/span><\/a>\u00a0by a district judge in February 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Lim, who is also secretary-general of the People\u2019s Alliance for Reform, had attended court hearings and submitted documents on 32 occasions between April and June 2021 while not having a valid practising certificate in force.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He later filed an appeal in the High Court against his conviction and sentence. Prosecutors\u00a0also filed an appeal for a stiffer sentence of between five and eight months\u2019 jail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In February 2026, the High Court judge allowed the prosecution\u2019s appeal and<!-- --> <!-- -->increased<!-- --> <!-- -->Lim\u2019s sentence to imprisonment of three months and a week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Lawyers in Singapore must apply for their practising certificate every practice year, which runs from April 1 to March 31 of the following year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Lim failed to apply for a practising certificate by March 31, 2021, because he had trouble obtaining his professional indemnity insurance, a prerequisite for applying for the certificate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On Aug 8, two Singaporeans who allegedly helped him leave Singapore were charged in court. Mohammad Adam Abd Karim, 44, and Sulaiman Muhammad Firdaus, 37, were each handed one count of engaging in a conspiracy to commit an act that has a tendency to defeat the course of justice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">According to charge sheets, the two men had made arrangements for Lim to leave Singapore on Aug 4. No further information about what they did was provided.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In April 2026, Lim <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/lim-tean-fined-30000-in-disciplinary-case-over-handling-of-clients-money?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">was also fined $30,000<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in a disciplinary case over his handling of a $30,000 cheque that was meant for his client.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The\u00a0Law Society of Singapore had\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/law-society-asks-for-lim-tean-to-be-struck-off-over-handling-of-30000-meant-for-client?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">called for him to be struck off the rolls<\/span><\/a>, while he argued before the Court of Three Judges that \u201ca very small fine\u201d should be imposed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The court cited several factors in imposing a heavier fine on Lim, including his cavalier attitude towards lawyers\u2019<b><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b>obligations in handling clients\u2019 money and his status as a senior practitioner with more than 25 years of experience at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/lim-tean-deported-to-spore-after-arrest-in-johor-over-failing-to-surrender-for-jail-term\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 Lawyer Lim Tean was handed over to the Singapore authorities on Aug 11 following his arrest in\u00a0Johor Bahru. The Singapore Police Force said&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=75769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/75770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}