2 S'poreans charged for allegedly helping Lim Tean escape to JB

Two Singaporean men have been charged in court on Aug. 8 for allegedly conspiring to make arrangements for Lim Tean to illegally depart Singapore for Malaysia.

The Singaporean lawyer and politician was supposed to surrender on Aug. 3 to serve jail time for practising law without a valid certificate.

He'd been sentenced to a jail term of three months and one week.

Police working to secure Lim Tean's return to S'pore

Lim was arrested by the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) in Johor Bahru on Aug. 6, according to the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in an Aug. 8 statement.

The Singapore police is now working closely with the RMP to secure his return to Singapore.

According to a previous report by Shin Min, police tracked Lim down to a rented apartment in JB.

But he refused to open the door to the Malaysian police.

Lim was reportedly only arrested after the apartment's owner was called.

His hair was dishevelled and he appeared haggard.

He was also unable to produce his passport.

Mohammad Adam Abd Karim, 44, and Sulaiman Muhammad Firdaus, 37, were each handed with one count of engaging in a conspiracy to do an act that has a tendency to defeat the course of justice.

The cases against Adam and Sulaiman will be heard again in court on Aug. 14.

If convicted, they could be imprisoned for up to seven years, or fined, or both.

Failed to surrender to court

An arrest warrant was issued for the 61-year-old lawyer after he failed to surrender to court to start his jail term on Aug. 3.

He was initially ordered to surrender to the State Courts on Jul. 20, but requested to defer his sentence to Aug. 3.

The request was granted.

However, he did not show up on the date.

Both his lawyer and bailor were reportedly unable to reach Lim.

According to a tip-off to Shin Min, Lim had arrived at the JB apartment on Aug. 4.

Another person had reportedly helped him to book the rental apartment, and had arrived a day earlier to collect the key.

Lim was apparently supposed to stay till Aug. 7 and check out, but got arrested a day before that could happen.

The source added that Lim only left the apartment twice a day to pick up meals ordered via takeout, but was still recognised as the area is frequented by Singaporeans.

Top images Mothership & Lim Tean/Facebook