Lim Tean jailed for 6 weeks & fined S$1,000 for practising law without valid certificate

Lim Tean will be jailed from 3 March, may still run for election

Opposition politician Lim Tean has been sentenced to six weeks’ jail and fined S$1,000 for practising law without a valid certificate.

The charges stem from a period of more than two months in 2021, when he represented clients several times before the certificate took effect, reported Channel NewsAsia (CNA).

Lim represented clients 32 times without valid certificate

Lim, 60, who is the founder of opposition party People’s Voice, was issued a practising certificate on Jun 10, 2021.

However, from 1 April to 9 June 2021, he attended court proceedings on behalf of clients 32 times.

He also prepared documents relating to those proceedings.

This was despite his previous practising certificate having expired on 31 March 2021.

Lim exercised reasonable care, his lawyer says

In his defence, Lim’s lawyer said he didn’t intend to commit the offences and had exercised reasonable care.

The practising certificate purportedly stated that Lim had been authorised to practise during the practice year terminating on 31 March 2022.

As this practice year was from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, this would have included the period when Lim was accused of acting as a lawyer without a valid certificate, the defence argued.

Lim had also told the Law Society that he did not have a practising certificate and was told that he could still go to court, but had to inform the judge, his lawyer added.

Lim also claimed that he had informed the judges during court proceedings but this was not captured in transcripts.

Lim showed glaring lack of remorse: Prosecutors

Convicting him of three charges in July 2024, Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun said Lim had failed to show how he could have been mistaken, given that the relevant section of the Legal Profession Act was not ambiguous.

Prosecutors said he had shown a “glaring lack of remorse” by not pleading guilty and instead claiming trial.

They asked for a jail term of five to eight months, while Lim’s lawyer asked for a fine of S$4,500 as Lim’s actions did not meet the threshold for imprisonment.

Lim Tean jailed as he ‘deceived’ clients, lawyers & judge

On Monday (17 Feb), the judge agreed that Lim had not shown any remorse.

He also exposed his clients to risks and “in the process deceived his clients, other lawyers, public officers and the judges”.

Lim should have known that when his practising certificate expired he had up to the end of April to renew it or he would be not authorised to practise law, said the judge.

The judge granted the request for the start of his jail term to be deferred till 3 March.

For acting as a lawyer without a valid practising certificate, he could have been jailed for up to six months and/or fined up to S$25,000.

Lim Tean can still run for election despite being jailed

Lim has told CNA that he would appeal his conviction and sentence.

They do not prevent him from contesting in the upcoming General Election, however.

According to the Constitution, only those who’re fined at least S$10,000 or jailed for at least one year for a single offence are disqualified from running for election to become an MP.

Lim faces four more pending charges

This is not the end of Lim’s legal troubles.

He also faces four other pending charges, one of them over the alleged misappropriation of S$30,000 entrusted to him over a few weeks in 2019.

The sum was awarded to his former client as a settlement in a civil suit, according to the police.

He also faces one charge of harassment in after allegedly sending flirtatious text messages to a former employee of his law firm in 2020.

Also read: Lawyer Lim Tean Found Guilty Of Improper Conduct, Deliberately Kept S$30K Cheque From Client

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Featured image by MS News.