Lee Hsien Yang pays Jolovan Wham’s $20K security deposit in High Court appeal

Late last night, activist Jolovan Wham took to Twitter to share that Lee Hsien Yang – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s brother – has put up S$20,000 for Wham to use as a security deposit for his appeal against the High Court in his case for scandalising the judiciary.

Wham was charged on April 27 last year because he put up a Facebook post commenting on the independence of Singapore’s judges compared to Malaysia’s. He also put up a link to an article entitled “Malaysiakini mounts constitutional challenge against Anti-Fake News Act.”

A few days later, on May 6, John Tan, the vice-chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party, commented on Facebook, “by charging Jolovan for scandalising the judiciary, the AGC (Attorney-General’s Chambers) only confirms what he said was true”.

On Twitter last night, Wham wrote, “My lawyers have informed me that they’ve put in 20k to the prosecutor’s account as security for costs. This is for my appeal against the high court decision which found me guilty of scandalising the judiciary. If I lose, I may not get the full deposit back. Justice is not cheap!”

In another Tweet shortly after, he added, “Fortunately, the Prime Minister’s brother, Lee Hsien Yang reached out to me and offered to put up the security for costs on my behalf. I’m grateful to him for his generosity”.

On Monday, April 29, Wham was given a S$5,000 fine by the High Court, along with Tan. Tan will also not be able to contest in the next General Election./TISG