Singapore — A lawyer has been appointed to act on behalf of the independent panel tasked by the Sengkang Town Council (SKTC) to handle matters in relation to a court appeal filed by Workers’ Party chairman Sylvia Lim, secretary-general Pritam Singh, former party chief Low Thia Khiang and other parties.
Ms Marina Chin, the joint managing partner of the law firm Tan Kok Quan Partnership, was formally appointed on Oct 28, the same day as all the assets and liabilities of the former Punggol East Single-Member Constituency (SMC) were transferred to SKTC.
The SKTC had announced in September that it had appointed an independent panel of three persons — Mr Kenneth Tan SC, Mr Lok Vi Ming SC and Dr Kevin Tan — under Section 32 (2) of the Town Councils Act “to exercise SKTC’s powers to make all decisions relating to the Appeals”.
It added: “Mr Kenneth Tan SC graduated with 1st Class Honours from the National University of Singapore and was among the first batch of Senior Counsel appointed in 1997. Mr Lok Vi Ming is also a Senior Counsel and served as President of the Law Society of Singapore in 2013 and 2014. Dr Kevin Tan is an Adjunct Professor at the National University of Singapore’s Law Faculty and is a noted public law scholar.”
Sengkang GRC, with more than 120,000 voters, is made up partly of the former Punggol East SMC and the Sengkang Central division of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, both of which were previously managed by the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council (PRPTC). It is also made up of parts of Sengkang West SMC, which was managed by Ang Mo Kio Town Council.
The PRPTC had filed the lawsuit to recover alleged losses incurred by the former Punggol East SMC when it was under the WP from 2013 to 2015. It began the civil suit after the WP-run Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) had sued the same people.
A judge found that Ms Lim and Mr Low had breached their fiduciary duties to the town council and that Mr Singh had breached his duty of skill and care. The town councillors and the PRPTC are appealing against the decision.
SKTC said earlier that it is fully committed to ensuring that all decisions taken in relation to the management of the court appeals are fair, transparent and in accordance with the law.
According to the straitstimes.com, the Supreme Court was notified in last month regarding the appointment of Ms Chin. /TISG
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