Lee Hsien Yang and wife ‘always free’ to return to Singapore, police say

Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern left the city state in 2022 after skipping a scheduled police interview

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Published: 2:47pm, 11 Oct 2024

The Singapore Police Force said on Friday former prime minister Lee Hsien Loong’s younger brother and his wife are free to return to the city state.

While Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern left Singapore in 2022 after deciding not to attend a scheduled police interview, there are no barriers preventing them from returning to the country.

“In response to media queries, the police confirm that there are no legal restraints to Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Mrs Lee Suet Fern returning to Singapore. They are and have always been free to return to Singapore,” SPF said in a statement.

“The police had asked both Mr Lee and Mrs Lee in June 2022 to assist in investigations by attending an interview. They had initially agreed but in the end did not turn up for the scheduled interview, left Singapore on June 15, 2022, and have not returned since.”

In a clarification statement issued in March 2023, the police said they had asked the couple to attend the interview over potential offences of giving false evidence in judicial proceedings regarding Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s will.

As the couple were “cooperative” and agreed to be interviewed, an order requesting their attendance before the police under Section 21(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code was not issued, SPF said at the time.