by KIRSTEN HAN
Singapore’s highest court reserved judgment on Friday in the appeal of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s nephew against a court order, extending a legal action that’s become a closely watch subplot in an increasingly politicized first family feud.
Li Shengwu, the son of Prime Minister Lee’s estranged brother Lee Hsien Yang, was legally challenging a court order that had allowed the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) to serve him papers for contempt of court in the American city of Boston, where he is currently based.
The Singapore state is seeking to commence contempt of court proceedings against Li for a friends-only Facebook post he published, in which he commented that the government is “very litigious” and has a “pliant court system.”
The post was screen-grabbed and published by numerous websites, notably none of which have been charged yet by the AGC.
The contempt of court saga comes amid a highly publicized dispute between Lee and his younger siblings, Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling.
The three are the children of Singapore’s much-revered late statesman Lee Kuan Yew; the two younger Lees allege that the prime minister is seeking to go against their father’s wishes to preserve the family home for political mileage.
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