Lim Tean, the defense lawyer for writer and financial adviser Leong Sze Hian, called Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s case “very weak”.
Mr Lim Tean’s comments came on Wednesday (Oct 7), after he announced that Mr Leong would not take to the witness stand for cross-examination on the second day of a four-day defamation trial.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Oct 7), Mr Lim wrote: Defence Submits No Case To Answer In Leong Sze Hian’s Defamation Case!”
“This morning I cross-examined Lee Hsien Loong’s expert witness, Dr Phan who is based in Hong Kong. The evidence I extracted from Dr Phan I consider to be extremely helpful to the Defence”.
He added that after the lunch break, he informed the trial judge Justice Aedit Abdullah that he had considered the evidence and the answers PM Lee and Dr Phan had provided and the evidence which had emerged in Court, and the admissions already made by them, and that he “did not consider it necessary to call Leong Sze Hian, the Defendant, to give evidence”.
Mr Lim Tean wrote: “Such a move, when Defence Counsel does not call evidence for the Defence, only happens when he considers that the Plaintiff’s case is very weak and not made out, based on the Plaintiff’s own evidence. It is a decision which takes courage on the part of Counsel to make”.
Speaking to the media after the court session, Mr Lim Tean said that during the cross-examination of Lee Hsien Loong, “we obtained the answers that we wanted”.
“He agreed with my advice that in all the circumstances there was no need for him to give evidence”, Mr Lim Tean added, referring to his client, Mr Leong.
https://www.facebook.com/PeoplesVoiceSingapore/posts/2679788268956029
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