{"id":76397,"date":"2026-08-14T15:42:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T07:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=76397"},"modified":"2026-08-14T15:42:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T07:42:02","slug":"law-minister-edwin-tong-calls-on-law-society-to-release-full-audit-report-to-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=76397","title":{"rendered":"Law Minister Edwin Tong calls on Law Society to release full audit report to members"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>THE ALLEGATIONS<\/h2>\n<p>The Law Society represents lawyers and maintains standards of the legal profession in Singapore. <span>Its current <\/span>council, led by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/singapore\/tan-cheng-han-law-society-president-reflect-presidency-5801896\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>Professor Tan Cheng Han<\/span><\/a><span> as president, took office in 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Council presidents from 2022 to 2025 were the late Mr Adrian Tan, Senior Counsel Jason Chan and Ms Lisa Sam.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Allegations of poor workplace culture and governance at the bar association first surfaced in an anonymous email to the law and manpower ministries on Sep 13, 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Law Society&#8217;s audit committee, comprising members and non-members, investigated the allegations independently of the council. It presented its findings to the council on Jun 5 and sent the report to the law ministry on Jul 1.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On Aug 5, Mr Tong said the audit found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/singapore\/lawsoc-audit-significant-failings-edwin-tong-6302566\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;significant failings&#8221; in leadership, workplace culture and governance<\/a> from 2022 to 2025, though it found no evidence of deliberate financial impropriety or an intentional cover-up.<\/p>\n<p>In a written parliamentary reply, he <span>described the email tip-off as containing &#8220;serious and wide-ranging&#8221; allegations about &#8220;inappropriate workplace conduct, weaknesses in governance and oversight, deficiencies in grievance handling and whistleblowing processes, and shortcomings in internal controls over certain administrative and financial practices&#8221; from 2022 to 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On Friday, Mr Tong said the Law Society plays an important role in Singapore&#8217;s legal system and carries responsibilities to its members and the wider public.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is therefore important that the issues identified in the report are followed through appropriately, with transparency and accountability, and that the necessary steps be taken to strengthen the society&#8217;s governance and functioning.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This will help maintain confidence in the Law Society as an institution.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry of Law will continue to follow developments closely and looks forward to the council&#8217;s further updates on steps taken to address the issues identified in the report, Mr Tong added.<\/p>\n<p>The Law Society previously told CNA it has <span>carefully considered the audit committee&#8217;s report and &#8220;taken the necessary steps&#8221; in response to its findings and recommendations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It declined to comment further, citing confidentiality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>CNA has contacted the Law Society for its response to Mr Tong&#8217;s statement.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/singapore\/law-society-edwin-tong-full-report-audit-6318791\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE ALLEGATIONS The Law Society represents lawyers and maintains standards of the legal profession in Singapore. Its current council, led by Professor Tan Cheng Han&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76398,"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-76397","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\/76397","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=76397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}