Lim Tean says he will sue CNA & Mothership for reporting that he's bankrupt

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Lim Tean says he has settled the case & is not a bankrupt

Lawyer Lim Tean has said he will sue media outlets Channel NewsAsia (CNA) and Mothership for publishing news reports saying that he is bankrupt.

Denying that he is bankrupt, Lim said in a Facebook post on Friday (10 April) night that he had settled the case.

Lim Tean says media outlets published ‘false and defamatory articles’

In his post, Lim said the two media outlets had published “false and defamatory articles” about him.

The 61-year-old, who is the secretary-general of the opposition party grouping People’s Alliance for Reform, also accused “gutter press” of trying to “smear the opposition”.

Additionally, he noted that Mothership had contacted him for comment and he had provided clarifications to them, but they published an article “with the malicious intent to defame me and cause me harm”.

Source: Lim Tean on Facebook

Lim Tean named in MinLaw & Government Gazette notices

The media reports were published after Lim was named in a notice of Bankruptcy Orders released by the Ministry of Law (MinLaw).

It said a Bankruptcy Order was made against him on 2 April, with his trustees named as Lau Chin Huat and Yeo Boon Keong of Technic Inter-Asia Pte Ltd, a professional recovery & insolvency firm.

Lim was also listed in a Government Gazette notice dated 10 April, which stated the same information.

Any individual or firm may be declared bankrupt when they are unable to repay a debt of at least S$15,000.

Lim Tean says he’s not bankrupt

However, Lim denied that he was a bankrupt, saying:

I have already settled with the petitioning creditor and the order of court was never extracted.

He wanted to clarify this situation to the public “urgently”, he added.

Lim Tean involved in other cases

Also on Friday, Lim was fined S$30,000 by the Court of Three Judges, a disciplinary tribunal that hears cases on the professional misconduct of Singapore-qualified lawyers.

The case was to do with a S$30,000 cheque meant for his client that he had banked into his law firm’s account instead of a separate account for clients’ monies as required.

While the Law Society of Singapore called for the court to strike him off the rolls, this was rejected as it did not find that he had acted dishonestly.