Dr Lee Wei Ling defended her brother Lee Hsien Yang against accusations made by retired diplomat Bilahari Kausikan.
In a Facebook post earlier today (Jul 14), the sister of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote: “Bilahari has falsely claimed that my brother Yang bought Oxley Road for $1 and that Yang is angry because he is prevented from monetising the property. Bilahari has no basis to make such a statement”.
“Yang did not buy the house for $1. He paid market price for the house to buy it from Loong, and made a further 50% of the value of the house as a donation to charity”, she added.
Dr Lee continued: “Furthermore, Yang bought it knowing that Pa had given me the right to live in the house for as long as I wished. He also bought it knowing that URA and NHB had issued a statement in Apr 2015: “In view of the historical significance of the property, if a decision is made to allow for the demolition of the house, the Government is likely to disallow the site to be redeveloped in a way that would diminish its historical significance, for example, for commercial or intensive residential development.””
Mr Kausikan made remarks against Mr Lee in a Facebook post that was published on Cooling Off Day and claimed that Mr Lee was attacking the system even though he benefited from it because he was “prevented from monetising” his family home by his elder brother.
The retired diplomat said that Mr Lee was “trying to cause trouble without responsibility” and that this was “cowardly”. He wrote:
“I have two comments/ questions: first, you are a beneficiary of the ‘privilege’ you now eloquently attack. Why? Because you were prevented from monetising the property your brother sold you?”
“Second, if you are really so upset, why faff around the margins, trying to cause trouble without responsibility? Your excuse for not standing for election, that there need not be another Lee in politics is hollow: what are you doing if it is not politics? Cowardly!”
Dr Lee concuded her Facebook post calling Mr Kausikan’s remarks “completely baseless and false”.
According to TODAY, PM Lee inherited 38 Oxley Road but sold the house to Mr Lee Hsien Yang at market value in 2015. Both brothers then each donated half the value of the house to charity. This means that Mr Lee Hsien Yang forked out 150 per cent of the market value of the house – 100 per cent went to his elder brother and the remaining 50 per cent was donated to charity. /TISG