LKY's estate withdraws application to appeal

The estate of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew has withdrawn its application for permission to appeal against a judge’s decision.

Earlier this month, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang – in their role as executors of Mr Lee’s estate – had applied for leave to appeal against a High Court decision that prevented them from submitting to court an account of how their father’s interview transcripts ended up with the Government after his death.

The Supreme Court confirmed that the application was withdrawn yesterday at a hearing in chambers in the High Court.

The executors of Mr Lee’s estate had initially applied to court last year to clarify an agreement their father had made with the Government over the control and use of the interviews he gave in the 1980s as prime minister.

As part of the case, they wanted to file an affidavit setting out a detailed account of how the Cabinet Secretary came to possess the transcripts after Mr Lee’s death in March last year.

But in his judgment on Sept 28, High Court Judge Tay Yong Kwang did not allow it, saying “the details were unnecessary and quite irrelevant” to the case.

The judgment had set out background facts on the transcripts – that they were found in Mr Lee’s home at 38 Oxley Road by a family member shortly after he died on March 23 last year.

LKY’s estate donates furniture, personal belongings from Oxley Road home

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Estate of Lee Kuan Yew, Stamford Law, The Straits Times

Between March 23 and May 5 last year, an unnamed member of Mr Lee’s family, thinking that the transcripts were official government documents, handed them to the Cabinet Secretary without the knowledge or consent of Mr Lee’s estate.

Following the judgment, lawyers for the estate said the estate was looking to reverse Justice Tay’s decision “to seal or expunge certain affidavits, portions of affidavits, and other court documents, from the court file”. The estate then filed an application in the High Court for permission to appeal against the decision, but withdrew it yesterday.

Lawyers for the estate did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.

dansonc@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on October 22, 2016.
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