Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

Lawyer Charles Yeo, 32, who has left Singapore, is not coming back here, a district court heard on Wednesday (Mar. 29).

Yeo, whose full name is Charles Yeo Yao Hui, told an investigation officer that contacted him via WhatsApp on Mar. 21 that he does not intend to return to Singapore, according to Deputy Public Prosecutor Teo Siu Ming.

A warrant of arrest against him, issued after he had absconded, was extended by the courts.

According to The Straits Times, DPP Teo also told District Judge Terence Tay that efforts to trace him are ongoing.

She did not state where Yeo is currently.

Yeo is the former chairman of the Reform Party.

He had his full bail amount of S$15,000 forfeited in September 2022.

Another review of on the matters involving the arrest warrant is scheduled for Sep. 27, according to ST.

Why is Yeo wanted?

Yeo was part of the Reform Party's five-member team to contest in Ang Mo Kio GRC in the 2020 General Election against a team led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

He was charged in January 2022.

He was charged with

• three counts under the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA) of posting Instagram Stories with threatening, abusive and insulting remarks
• three counts of making or attempting to make remarks to wound the religious feelings of the Christian community.

Yeo is also on police bail as he is currently under investigation for separate offences of alleged criminal breach of trust by an attorney and forgery offences.

Yeo stepped down as chairman of his party following his arrest in January 2022.

The state courts had granted Yeo permission to travel to Vietnam for work between Jul. 27 and 30, 2022.

However, he had failed to return to Singapore from Vietnam on Jul. 30 and instead fled to the United Kingdom to seek "political asylum", effectively breaching court conditions that approved his travel overseas for work while on bail.

Yeo said in a series of Instagram Stories on Jul. 30 that he had "left everything behind."

His friends and lawyers were not privy to his decision to seek asylum.

He even claimed he will not get a fair trial in Singapore and his legal problems are "attacks against a young political activist" and "politically motivated".

Top photo via Charles Yeo Instagram