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Chees write to
Chief Justice on summary judgement hearing
27 September
2006
Mr Chan Sek Keong
Chief Justice
Supreme
Court
Republic of Singapore
Dear Sir,
In the
recent summary judgement hearing presided by Judge Belinda Ang on
12 September 2006 in the matter of Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien
Loong v. Chee Siok Chin and Chee Soon Juan (Suit Nos. 261 and 262
of 2006), Ms Chee and I were not represented by counsel.
Before
the proceedings began, we had informed Judge Ang that our
counsel, Mr M Ravi, was not well and that we needed time for him
to recover. The Plaintiffs lawyer, Mr Davinder Singh, insisted
that our application was nothing but a ploy to delay the hearing.
Judge Ang sided with Mr Singh and rejected our application.
This
being the case, we then asked to discharge Mr Ravi as our lawyer
as he could not continue arguing our matter and to have a
two-week adjournment for us to find another lawyer.
Again,
Mr Singh objected and again Ms Belinda Ang sided with him. The
summary judgement hearing thus proceeded without us having legal
representation. Ms Ang ruled in the Lees’ favour. All this
was done in her chambers away from the media and public.
Mr
Ravi has now been hospitalized. A medical certificate from the
hospital has already been produced in court. Given his illness,
Mr Ravi was also unable to represent his other clients in three
other cases.
It is clear that Judge Ang was wrong not to
allow our counsel time to recover or to give us time to try to
find another lawyer.
I do not have to tell you that to
have a hearing in chambers with one party not having legal
representation is a grave breach of the principles of
justice.
The defendants would like to appeal Judge Ang’s
decision to proceed with the hearing despite the absence of our
lawyer. However, we have to pay the security cost of $10,000
which we cannot afford. We would like to ask that the cost be
waived given the nature of the case and the circumstances
surrounding it. This will enable us to proceed with the appeal
and have justice not only done, but also manifestly seen to be
done.
I look forward to hearing from
you.
Sincerely,
Chee Soon
Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party
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