High Court orders Li Shengwu to answer AGC’s questions, produce documents mentioned in his defence affidavit

SINGAPORE — In the latest development in a three-year legal battle, the High Court has dismissed two applications by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s nephew, Mr Li Shengwu, who is involved in a contempt of court case over a Facebook post he made in 2017.

In a statement to the media on Monday (Feb 3), the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) also said that Mr Li’s lawyers have discharged themselves from acting for him in this case.

AGC had previously posed various questions to Mr Li for him to answer on oath. It had also applied for Mr Li to produce certain documents referred to in his defence affidavit filed on Sept 24 last year.

“Mr Li refused to answer the questions posed to him by the AGC and applied to set them aside. He also applied for discovery of certain documents from the AGC,” it said.

On Dec 2, the High Court directed that these applications be heard on Feb 3.

Written legal submissions were due to be filed on Oct 10 last year and Jan 28 this year.

However, on Jan 22, Mr Li said in a Facebook post that he would no longer take part in the legal proceedings.

The High Court dismissed Mr Li’s applications on Monday.

“Mr Li is required to answer the questions that the AGC has posed to him, on oath, within 14 days,” AGC said.

Mr Li was further ordered to produce the documents referred to in his defence affidavit and to attend the substantive committal proceedings to be cross-examined, AGC added.

There remains one application pending: This is for a declaration that Mr Li and his then-lawyers had abused the court process.

AGC said that on or about Sept 29 last year, Mr Li had instructed his lawyers to release copies of his defence affidavit to the media before the affidavit was admitted into evidence or referred to in any court hearing.

“This was a breach of paragraph 29A(3) of the Supreme Court Practice Directions, which prohibits such disclosure,” AGC said.

“The court subsequently struck out portions of Mr Li’s defence affidavit which contained scandalous and irrelevant material. Mr Li and his lawyers have since filed affidavits apologising for the breach.”

The parties will appear before the court again on this pending application at a later date, AGC said, adding that on Monday, Mr Li’s lawyers discharged themselves from acting for him in these proceedings.

TODAY has reached out to Mr Li for comment.