SINGAPORE — Hollywood star George Clooney’s sister-in-law is facing a new drink-driving charge in Singapore, six years after she was convicted of the same offence.
Tala Alamuddin Le Tallec, aged 47 and a Singapore permanent resident, was allegedly driving a BMW X5 while drunk in the early hours of May 14.
The older sister of human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of actor George Clooney, is facing four individual charges—for drink driving, for driving a car without a Singapore Class 3 driving licence, for driving without insurance, and for using the car without the owner’s consent.
On May 14, in the early hours of the morning, Le Tallec was allegedly driving while drunk along Holland Road in the direction of Ulu Pandan.
Not only was Le Tallec in an inebriated state, she was apparently also did not have a driving licence and she had taken the car without the consent of the owner of the vehicle.
The identity of the owner of the BMW X5 that Le Tallec was driving was not revealed.
Court documents showed that when the authorities caught Le Tallec at around 2.30am and tested her for alcohol, she reportedly had 95 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of her breath, which exceeded the allowable limit of 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
Le Tallec was previously convicted of a drink-driving charged in Singapore on April 15, 2013.
If convicted of the repeat offence of drink-driving, Le Tallec could be jailed for up to 12 months and given a fine between S$3,000 and S$10,000.
She could also be prohibited from driving with a longer driving ban, or disallowed from holding or obtaining a driving licence for at least one year, unless waived by the courts for a special reason.
Le Tallec was in court yesterday (Aug. 15) to apply for permission to travel to Bali from Aug. 23 to Sept. 3 for work purposes.
Le Tallec, who lives in Singapore, is a fashion designer and owns a brand called Totally Tala.
District Judge Lorraine Ho granted the application.
Since the alleged driving offences, Le Tallec was allowed to leave the country to travel to Italy and then the United Kingdom from July 13 to Aug. 5, also for work.
Represented by lawyer Shashi Nathan, Le Tallec is currently out on bail, which totalled $20,000, of which $5,000 was mandated by the court for allowing her to travel outside of the country.
Le Tallec is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 19 for the most recent drink-driving charge.