Lee and son deny impropriety in dealings
Lee and son deny impropriety in dealings
SINGAPORE (AFP): Elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew and his son Deputy Premier Lee Hsien Loong denied any impropriety and defended their family honor in a parliamentary debate yesterday on discounts they got on luxury condominiums.
The 72-year-old former premier, still recovering from a heart operation in March, spoke on his feet for more than an hour to reject market rumors that they got special treatment from a property developer.
"I have to meet you in person to tell you the facts and give you the opportunity to decide whether I have become a different person," Lee told the parliament in a rambling, sometimes emotional address.
"Let's grow up," he exclaimed at one point. "I am what I am and I'm here after 37 years in office because I have never taken advantage financially of my position."
Lee said that "at no stage did my wife or I feel we were doing anything irregular or improper. They were open and above-board transactions."
Lee, who stepped down after 31 years as premier in 1990 and holds the title of senior minister, said "there is nothing to hide" and described discounts as normal practice in the property market
Satisfied
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong told parliament he was satisfied "there was no impropriety" after looking into the deals and never doubted Lee's integrity.
"He has given his whole life to build this country and the whole world knows us for our reputation for being clean," said Goh, who heads the world's highest-paid cabinet.
Despite being cleared earlier by Goh, the Lees have announced that they will donate the discounts to charity to erase any doubts about the transactions.
Lee said his greatest contributions to Singapore were its "financial integrity" and clean government. He said he left personal financial matters to his wife Kwa Geok Choo, a successful lawyer and experienced property investor.
They paid S$3.57 million (US$2.55 million) on one unit at an exclusive development, Nassim Jade, after a seven-percent discount also given to other early buyers, he said.
It was bought for his possible use in old age, when he might have difficulty living in his three-level house, he said.
They paid S$2.79 million after a five-percent discount on a unit at another project, Scotts 28, and plan to rent it out, he said.
Both are projects of Hotel Properties Ltd. (HPL), which was reprimanded by the stock exchange last month for delays in reporting discounted sales to its directors and their kin. Lee's brother Lee Suan Yew is an HPL director. The Lees publicly disclosed their purchases after the director was named in press reports about the reprimand.
Deputy Premier Lee, 44, told parliament he paid S$3.64 million for a unit at Nassim Jade, and S$2.77 million for a unit at Scotts 28. He got a 12-percent discount on the first unit and five percent on the second.
The junior Lee, who was diagnosed with cancer in 1992 but was later cured, said he and his wife decided to invest in property for their children's sake.
"These are really private matters which I am under no obligation to disclose publicly," he said. "But I have explained them to dispel any lingering mystery or doubt over my purchases ...," he said.