SINGAPORE, Aug 29 — Lawyer and opposition party leader Lim Tean, who was on trial for charges of acting as a lawyer when he was unauthorised, began the first day of the trial by dismissing his defence counsel over “fundamental differences”, a court heard today .
The 58-year-old, who founded the party Peoples Voice, claimed trial for three charges of acting as a lawyer without a valid practising certificate under the Legal Profession Act. “It has become apparent that we have fundamental differences in how to handle my defence,” said Lim, “I therefore discharge him and would like to get a new counsel.”
In response, Deputy Public Prosecutor Edwin Soh said that for cases like Lim's, no timeline or deadline was required for the prosecution to serve the bundle. The prosecution added that Lim's last-minute change of counsel was “merely a delay tactic”, arguing that this is apparent as Lim did so on the day his trial commenced.
Lim also added that despite being aware of the trial dates, nobody could have foreseen him being placed into the path of a presidential campaign or that he would be a seconder to his preferred candidate.