Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (LHL) 3,882-word rebuttal to his siblings also recounted what went on during the reading of the late Lee Kuan Yew's (LKY) last will on Apr. 12, 2015.

He said that he was so "struck" by the volunteered statements (a.k.a. declarations) made during the session that he recounted to Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Teo Chee Hean what had happened at the reading 11 days later on Apr. 23, 2015.

Here's how LHL put it:

"23. I was so struck by the sequence of volunteered statements that on 23 April 2015, 11 days later, I recounted to DPM Teo Chee Hean in my office what had happened at the reading of the Last Will, including what Lee Suet Fern (LSF) had said."

What happened during the reading of LKY's last will?

During the reading of LKY's last will, LHL said that he couldn't help but think that statements made by his sister-in-law, Suet Fern, and her colleague, Bernard Lui (BL), sounded like they were rehearsed.

LHL said that LSF, who is Lee Hsien Yang's wife, had stated during the reading that LKY had asked her to prepare his last will, but she had not wanted to get "personally involved", so she got her colleague Ng Joo Kin to handle the preparation of the last will. Following this statement, BL said that he was a witness to the last will.

Here is the extract from LHL's statement:

"22. On 12 April 2015, Mr Lee’s Last Will was read. Mr Lee’s three children, HC and LSF were present at the reading. Also present were two lawyers from LSF’s law firm, Mr Ng Joo Khin (“NJK”) and BL (who was a witness to signing of the Last Will). At that reading, LSF volunteered that Mr Lee had asked her to prepare the Last Will, but that she had not wanted to get personally involved and had therefore gotten NJK from her law firm to handle the preparation of the Last Will. BL then confirmed that he was one of the witnesses to the Last Will. I could not help but form the impression that this was all rehearsed, and wondered why these statements were made even when no questions had been raised about the validity of the Last Will. BL then went on, in our presence, to examine the seals and signatures on the envelope, opened the envelope, examined the initials and signatures on every page, and pronounced that this was the document that he had witnessed before handing it to NJK. NJK did not dispute LSF’s account that he had handled the preparation of the Last Will. He then went on to read the Last Will to Mr Lee’s family, word for word, including the page and paragraph numbers."

During the reading of LKY's Last Will, LHL said that an argument between him and Hsien Yang took place at that session.

Top image screenshots from Prime Minister's Office Singapore and YouTube.

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