Contempt of court proceedings against Li Shengwu over a Facebook post he made on the judiciary will continue.

This development in the case comes after the High Court gave the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) approval to proceed.

AGC has 14 days till Sept. 4 to start proceedings

Today quoted Senior State Counsel Francis Ng telling reporters that permission to commence proceedings was granted by Justice Kannan Ramesh during a closed door hearing on Aug. 21.

The AGC will have 14 days till Sept. 4 to start proceedings, then serve court documents on Li, and proceed to fix hearing dates.

Li is the son of Lee Hsien Yang and nephew of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

He revealed in a recent interview that he had left Singapore in July to return to the United States over concerns that he might be detained if he remained here.

He had said in another interview earlier that he has no plans to return here and would defend himself with legal representation in Singapore.

According to Today, a hearing can go on whether or not Li or his lawyers are present.

If satisfied that Li has scandalised the court, the High Court could make an order for committal and sentence him to a fine or a jail term.

Li had posted on Facebook on Aug. 21 on the same day as this new development occurred about an Aug. 8 letter he received from the AGC.

Li claims AGC allowing original post to stay

Curiously, in point 14 of the letter Li sent the AGC on Aug. 18, he said the AGC accepts that he does not need to delete the July 15 private post on his Facebook page after he had amended it.

The July 15 post had originally said “that the Singapore government is very litigious and has a pliant court system”.

The 32-year-old junior fellow at Harvard University wrote in the letter:

“AGC in its initial letter to me dated 21 July even required that I delete and remove my 15 July private post from my ‘Facebook page and any other social/online media and other documents in your possession, custody or control’. AGC now accepts in its letter of 8 August that I need not delete my private post as I have amended it.”

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Prime minister's press secretary response

ST also reported on the response of Chang Li Lin, the press secretary to PM Lee.

This was after Li wrote in his latest Aug. 21 Facebook post:

In a letter on 8 August 2017, the AGC privately revised its demands to me.

Surprisingly, my uncle PM Lee Hsien Loong's press secretary was aware of these revised demands, and disclosed them on 18 August.

The Aug. 18 disclosure referred to was a Reuters article, “Lee Kuan Yew’s grandson left Singapore because friends feared he would be detained”.

According to ST, Chang said in response to media queries that Reuters had asked the PM's office if this and other allegations Li made were true, relating to Li's comments that he has concerns he might be detained by the authorities here.

Chang said: "My office checked with the AGC and was told not only was Mr Li's claim that he might be detained inaccurate, AGC had in fact offered to drop the charges if he were to apologise and withdraw his statements. AGC received a subsequent query from Reuters on the same matter and asked Reuters to refer to the PMO's statement."

Revision of terms

Li also claimed that there was a revision of terms in the Aug. 8 letter that the AGC sent to him, as the authorities were willing to “discontinue” legal action, should he publish an apology or undertaking.

However, Li said in his reply:

“The truth matters: I cannot confess to a crime I did not commit in return for a discontinuance of the legal proceedings against me.”