SINGAPORE: Lawyer and opposition politician Lim Tean was sentenced to a longer jail term for practising law without a valid certificate after his appeal against his conviction and initial sentence was dismissed.

Lim's sentence was enhanced to a jail term of three months and one week on Monday (Feb 23), from his original sentence of six weeks' jail and a S$1,000 (US$791) fine.

Judge Kannan Ramesh dismissed Mr Lim's appeal against his conviction and sentence, and allowed the prosecution's cross-appeal to increase his sentence.

Lim is the founder of the Peoples Voice (PV) party and the secretary-general of the People's Alliance for Reform, a grouping of opposition parties. He faces other charges, including criminal breach of trust as an attorney and unlawful stalking, that are pending before the court.

In the 2020 General Election, he led a four-man team from PV that lost to the People's Action Party (PAP) in Jalan Besar GRC.

In last year's General Election, Lim finished third in a three-way contest in Potong Pasir SMC, behind the PAP's Alex Yeo and the Singapore People's Party's Williiamson Lee.

Like his previous sentence, Lim's new sentence does not reach the threshold for disqualification to run for election to become a member of parliament.

Under the Constitution, anyone fined at least S$10,000 or jailed at least one year for a single offence is disqualified from running for election to become an MP.

In their cross appeal on Monday, Deputy Public Prosecutors Ng Yiwen and Bryan Wong said the initial sentence was "manifestly inadequate" and asked for a sentence of five to eight months in prison.

In the event his conviction was upheld, Lim's lawyers asked for a sentence amounting to a fine.

They had also asked for a total fine of S$4,500 when the case was first before the courts in 2024, arguing that the scale of Lim's actions did not meet the threshold for imprisonment.

In delivering his decision on Monday, Judge Ramesh said he found no errors in the State Courts' determination that Lim did not have a practising certificate in force during this period.

Lim also failed to establish the defence of reasonable care, the judge said, noting that he had elected to remain silent and provided no evidence on this issue.

Judge Ramesh said there were errors in Lim's sentencing, noting that the district judge incorrectly found his culpability to be low. He agreed that Lim's initial sentence was "manifestly inadequate".

Lim sought to defer his sentence by two months, instructing his lawyers that he is considering his options to file an appeal to the Court of Appeal.

His lawyer, Mohamed Arshad of Fernandez LLC, noted that Lim was still a practising lawyer and working on documents for an Apr 22 hearing.

In response, the prosecution noted that Lim had no right of appeal against Judge Ramesh's decision, but did not object to the deferment since they did not want to "unduly compromise" Lim's clients.

PRACTISING WITHOUT A CERTIFICATE

Lim was convicted in July 2024 by Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun after a trial.

He was found guilty of three charges under the Legal Profession Act for acting as an advocate and solicitor without authorisation between Apr 1, 2021, and Jun 9, 2021.

Lim's practising certificate was only issued on Jun 10, 2021.

Lim's lawyer Patrick Fernandez had argued that the practising certificate stated that Lim had been "authorised to practise as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore during the practice year terminating on Mar 31, 2022".

This practice year, which was from Apr 1, 2021, to Mar 31, 2022, would have captured the period when Lim was accused of acting as a lawyer without authorisation, the defence argued.

The defence argued that Lim did not intend to commit the offences, and that he had exercised reasonable care.

Mr Fernandez said Lim made it clear to the Law Society that he did not have a practising certificate and asked if he could still go to court. He was told that he could, but that he had to inform the judge.

Lim said that he had informed the judges of this matter during court proceedings, but that the exchange was not captured in transcripts.

However, Judge Ong ruled that there was no ambiguity in the relevant section of the Legal Profession Act, and that Lim had failed to show how he could have been mistaken in his interpretations.

At the time, Mr Ng and Mr Wong, as well as Deputy Public Prosecutor Edwin Soh sought between five and eight months' jail for Lim. 

They argued that the court's sentence should reflect the need to protect the public from unauthorised people claiming to provide legal services, and signal disapproval of Lim's "glaring lack of remorse".

Defence lawyer Mr Fernandez asked for a total fine of S$4,500, arguing that the scale of Lim's actions did not meet the threshold for imprisonment.

When Lim was first sentenced, the judge agreed with the prosecution that Lim had not shown any remorse and exposed his clients to the risk of having no recourse to professional liability insurance.

"He had in the process deceived his clients, other lawyers, public officers and the judges," said Judge Ong at the time.

Having been a lawyer for many years, Lim should have known that when his practising certificate expired on Mar 31, 2021, he had up to the end of April to renew it, failing which he would be deemed to be practising as an unauthorised person, he added.

For acting as a lawyer without a valid practising certificate under the Legal Profession Act, Lim could have been jailed for up to six months, fined up to S$25,000, or both.

SINGAPORE: A man who filmed a 16-year-old boy in a private act in a toilet cubicle claimed that he was gathering "evidence" of a sex act and littering.

A judge who heard the case in court rejected his defence and called him a "shameless voyeur". He sentenced the man to six months' jail, in a judgment made available on Saturday (Feb 21). 

Tan Wei Sien, whose age was not included in the judgment, claimed trial to a charge of voyeurism after he recorded seven videos of a 16-year-old male student in a toilet at Causeway Point mall on the night of Oct 17, 2024.

The court heard that Tan did not know the victim. He was in a cubicle next to the victim's at a toilet in the mall in Yishun that night.

The boy, who was a Secondary 4 student dressed in a school uniform, bought a packet of cooked rice and decided to eat in the "most spacious cubicle" that had a handrail.

He sat on the toilet seat and ate. After eating, he started engaging in a private act while watching "inappropriate videos" on his phone.

The victim said that he then saw a hand under the partition separating the cubicles, mimicking a sex act.

The boy recorded a five-second video of the hand gesture and felt sexually harassed.

He testified that the person also asked him whether he "wanted or not", and saw through a reflection on the ground that the person had also started engaging in a sex act in his own cubicle.

The victim said he felt uneasy and uncomfortable, so he made a report on the website of the National Anti-Violence and Sexual Harassment through his phone.

He left the toilet in a rush but had to go back to retrieve his wallet when he saw Tan staring at him.

The victim then entered another toilet in the mall, followed by Tan. This time, the victim took a photo of Tan washing his hands at the sink.

The boy said that he recognised Tan by his shoes and bag.

The police arrested Tan that day and took a statement from him later.

TAN'S ACCOUNT

In Tan's statement, he said that he was in the cubicle when he observed a shadow and heard what seemed to be someone throwing a packet of rice on the floor in the cubicle next to him.

"I also detected a food odour inside the toilet, which aroused my suspicion. I felt that this behaviour was unusual and inappropriate for a toilet setting." 

He decided to "investigate" what this person was doing and peered over the partition board to check.

He said that he saw a slim person holding his phone and engaging in a sex act, and that was when he took his own phone, intending to gather evidence of what he saw.

Tan added that he recorded for a few seconds over the partition, before reaching beneath to signal to the boy to ask if he was engaging in a sex act.

He then heard the boy putting on his pants before leaving. When Tan looked over, he saw rubbish and a food packet that the boy had discarded on the floor.

"He again left towards the toilet exit, so I decided to follow him to determine if he would try to (engage in a sex act) in another toilet," Tan said.

He claimed that he followed the boy to another toilet because he "wanted to determine if he would continue to litter". He also claimed that he saw the boy combing his hair in another toilet, and that the boy quickly fled when he spotted Tan.

Seven videos were recorded of the victim in the toilet.

FELT STRONGLY ABOUT CLEANLINESS

Tan, who was not represented by a lawyer, admitted that he was in the toilet that day, but said that there was no "good eyewitness" to prove that he was in the cubicle next to the victim.

He argued that there was not enough evidence, and alleged that the investigators did not understand the procedure on how to collect legal data from the crime scene, since there was no footage from security cameras or evidence from eyewitnesses.

In his police statement, Tan said that he worked as a cleaner and felt "strongly" about cleanliness matters.

"When I see someone acting irresponsibly by throwing food onto the ground, I feel angry about their behaviour, because they seem not to care about the cleaners who must clean up their mess." 

He acknowledged in his statement that it was wrong of him to record the victim, but that his intention was to gather evidence of the victim littering.

District Judge Koo Zhi Xuan found that the victim was a credible witness with a cogent and believable account of his interactions with Tan.

He answered the questions posed to him to the best of his recollection, even though he was "visibly embarrassed" to have to admit publicly to his private act.

"NOT INTERESTED IN TELLING THE TRUTH"

As for Tan, the judge noted that he had admitted to the offence in his police statement.

However, when confronted with the "uncanny consistency between his account in the statement, and the content of the videos shown in court, the accused incredibly and unreasonably denied that the evidence shown in court matched his admission in the statement, further damaging his credibility in the process", Judge Koo said.

He found Tan to be a "disingenuous witness who was not interested in telling the truth", but was motivated simply to discredit the prosecution's evidence by any means possible.

"Throughout the entire trial, the accused did not provide the court with a proper account of what exactly happened in the main toilet at the material time," Judge Koo said.

Referring to Tan's claim that he wanted to film the victim's acts of littering, the judge said that there was no sign at all in the videos of any litter being thrown within the cubicle.

Instead, Tan had deliberately focused his camera only on the victim and his private act.

Even if Tan really suspected the victim of littering, there was no reasonable cause for him to take the video of the victim surreptitiously while the victim was in the cubicle engaging in a private act.

The prosecution sought five to seven months' jail, asking for a slight raise because Tan's conduct at trial showed a lack of remorse in his repeated victim-blaming and in making baseless allegations.

Tan did not tender any written mitigation plea, although he submitted a document containing an "incoherent diatribe against several political leaders in Singapore, with no relevance at all to the present case", Judge Koo said.

Throughout the entire trial, Tan also filed many documents generated by artificial intelligence, which "did not assist the court at all", the judge added. 

He found Tan guilty, calling him a "shameless voyeur who had unlawfully infringed upon the dignity and privacy of a 16-year-old student in a public toilet in an egregious and persistent manner".

Even when confronted with overwhelming evidence, Tan "unreasonably and cowardly denied his wrongdoing, displaying an utter lack of remorse and introspection throughout," Judge Koo added.

Tan has filed a notice of appeal against his conviction and his sentence. He is out on bail pending appeal.

SINGAPORE: Singapore Customs seized 14,550 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes that were concealed inside air cooler units during two enforcement operations earlier this month.

The total duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) evaded in the haul amounted to more than S$1.57 million (US$1.25 million), Customs said in a media release on Monday (Feb 23).

A 40-year-old man was arrested in the course of the raids.

On Feb 7, Customs officers observed the man, a Chinese national, exiting an industrial building on Buroh Street.

Upon questioning, the man led the officers to a unit within the building, where 7,306 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes were found concealed inside three air cooler units.

The man was then arrested, and all the duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized, said Customs.

Follow-up investigations led to a second operation on Feb 11 at another industrial building on Tuas Bay Close, where officers discovered 7,244 more cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes similarly hidden in three air cooler units.

In total, the haul involved about S$1,578,512 in evaded duty and GST.

"Our investigations revealed that an unknown person had allegedly engaged the arrested man to retrieve the (duty-unpaid cigarettes) from the air coolers and pack them for local distribution," said Customs.

Court proceedings against the man are ongoing.

Under the Customs Act and the GST Act, buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing, keeping, possessing and dealing in duty-unpaid goods are serious offences.

Offenders can be fined up to 40 times the amount of duty and GST evaded, jailed for up to six years, or both.

While the group's name actually means "A TEEnager Z", the "a" in Ateez might just stand for "ace". It may be a bold claim, but it was proven true during the K-pop group's explosive performance at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Sunday (Feb 22), a stop in their In Your Fantasy world tour. 

The eight-member boy group – comprising Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung and Jongho – brought their Atinys’ (fans of Ateez) fantasies to life as they staged a powerful show with group performances interspersed with solo stages that spotlighted the team's signature energy as well as their individual charms.

Together with a live band that electrified every performance, Ateez started off strong with some high-octane songs like Bouncy (K-Hot Chilli Peppers) and Fireworks (I’m The One). The group had their fans singing along to every word, making for one of the loudest audiences the venue might have ever housed.

The group performances transitioned seamlessly into solo stages throughout the show that ran for two hours and 40 minutes. Rather than functioning as breaks, these moments reinforced the idea of Ateez as a team of all-rounders.

From Yunho’s precision in the dance-led track Slide To Me, Seonghwa’s theatrical storytelling through movement and a bold outfit transformation in Skin or Yeosang stepping forth with his commanding vocals in Legacy, each performance revealed a different side. 

There was also Wooyoung blending sensuality and energy in Sagittarius, Jongho captivating the venue with his vocal prowess in To Be Your Light, San channelling raw intensity in Creep, Hongjoong reshaping the stage with an electrifying DJ set with self-composed track No1, and Mingi commanding attention with the fluid rap and presence of self-written Roar.

All the solo tracks come from Golden Hour: Part.3 "In Your Fantasy Edition", an album that explores identity in its many forms. On stage, that theme translated into something tangible – eight distinct artistic voices that then converge again as a single force. When every solo sounds and feels different, their cohesion as a group becomes even more striking.

As for the theme of the concert, the group strived to make the entire show feel like a fantasy. With special effects like fire, smoke and lasers, the stage was indeed transformed into a veritable dreamscape. 

The stage also came to life with some unique props – the bottle of alcohol that Mingi paraded across the stage, martini glasses they raised to toast in front of the camera, cages that became their stage and red fabrics adding a magical and cheeky edge to the track Blind.

Sticking true to the show’s theme and their team’s identity as an all-rounded performance-driven group, Ateez’s energy remained unshakeable, jumping along with fans till the very end.

In an admirable effort to communicate with their global fans, the group largely spoke to Atinys in English, with a translator only occasionally coming in. However, it also felt like this may have slightly held them back from fully expressing themselves during fan interactions.

Nevertheless, the language barrier didn’t stop them from delivering an extra dose of cheeky fun. When Mingi, the group’s main rapper, began singing the main vocalist Jongho’s solo song, the crowd erupted in laughter and cheered at his attempt. Or when they kept saying “Skrrt skrrt” throughout the show, eliciting giggles from fans.

All in all, as Ateez ended the show with a fierce performance of The Real, it became evident that this truly was a group of performers who knew their strengths – both as individuals and as a team. And for nearly three hours, this collection of eight aces sharing the same stage made it all feel effortless.

SINGAPORE: The number of contraband smuggling attempts foiled in 2025 increased by over 30 per cent from the year before, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in its annual report on Monday (Feb 23).

About 57,400 contraband cases were detected at Singapore's checkpoints in 2025, up 30.6 per cent from around 43,900 cases in 2024. 

ICA attributed the spike in detected cases to improved profiling skills among its checkpoint officers, as well as enhanced targeting by its Integrated Targeting Centre and close collaboration with other enforcement agencies.

On the jump in such cases, the authority said: “Several cases involved smuggling of contraband cigarettes in cars with modified compartments or concealed among other goods in lorries.

“There was also more detection of illegal importation of significant quantities of both fresh and processed produce.”

Vape smuggling cases were among those detected, with ICA uncovering 667 such cases across all checkpoints in 2025, and seizing more than 350,000 vapes and related components.

In one such case in March last year, ICA officers found 23,642 e-vaporisers and related components hidden in a consignment of assorted food products in a Malaysia-registered lorry at Tuas Checkpoint.

Enforcement against vape smuggling at Singapore’s air, land and sea checkpoints was stepped up last year amid a broader crackdown.

Harsher penalties for vape-related offences also went into effect last September, with etomidate - the anaesthetic agent found in drug-laced vapes, known as Kpods - listed as a Class C drug in the Misuse of Drugs Act.

In another case of contraband smuggling, ICA officers at Pasir Panjang scanning station last August foiled an attempt to smuggle duty-unpaid cigarettes and tobacco after spotting anomalies.

A total of 42,000 cartons of undeclared duty-unpaid cigarettes and 4,800 packets of duty-unpaid tobacco, which were declared as rubber mats, were detected in the container.

The number of drug detections remained the same as in 2024, with more than 1,000 cases detected. Among them were two separate drug smuggling cases at Woodlands Checkpoint last year, involving several kilograms of heroin and other illegal drugs, which ICA highlighted.

The uptick in smuggling attempts that were stopped came as ICA cleared almost 245 million travellers last year, an increase of 6.3 per cent or about 14 million more travellers than in 2024.

“The increase was largely due to a rise in the number of travellers using the land checkpoints, which accounted for about 76 per cent of the total traveller volume,” said ICA.

There was a record number of close to 589,000 land crossings in a single day on Dec 19, 2025, it added.

In line with the rise in travellers using land checkpoints, ICA cleared almost 84.8 million vehicles in 2025, an increase of about 9.5 per cent or 7 million more compared with 2024.

The increase was attributed to the rise in the number of cars and motorcycles, which together accounted for about 94 per cent of the total vehicle volume.

But the volume of cargo cleared through Singapore’s checkpoints fell slightly in 2025 as opposed to the preceding year, according to ICA.

The total number of containers, consignments and parcels decreased to about 7.69 million, down from around 7.7 million in 2024. 

The volume of low-value goods - items worth no more than S$400 (US$316) per item, and purchased from overseas sellers and delivered into Singapore via air or post - dipped further by 27.5 per cent to about 25.07 million items in 2025.

PASSPORT-FREE IMMIGRATION CLEARANCE

In 2024, Singapore started the implementation of passport-free immigration clearance at major checkpoints for Singapore residents. 

About 127 million travellers cleared immigration without having to present their passport in 2025, ICA said.

QR code clearance was rolled out in March 2024, and fully implemented at Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints in January 2025. 

ICA noted that 134 million travellers have used the method for immigration clearance since its launch. 

Usage of QR code clearance among bus passengers and those riding motorcycles increased in 2025 to 60 per cent and 57 per cent respectively, while usage by car travellers remained stable at 69 per cent, ICA said.

“The implementation of QR code clearance has enhanced the efficiency of immigration clearance at the land checkpoints, enabling ICA to better manage the increasing volume of land travellers,” it added. 

“With group QR code clearance, families of up to four members using the special assistance lanes (SALs) can save up to 40 seconds in immigration clearance by presenting one group QR code instead of scanning multiple passports. 

“For car travellers, immigration clearance time can be reduced by more than 30 per cent using QR code clearance, with greater time savings for cars with a larger number of passengers.” 

QR code clearance will also be implemented at the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link, with operations expected to start by the end of 2026.

Meanwhile, token-less clearance, which allows Singapore residents and departing foreign visitors to clear immigration by simply using facial and iris biometrics without the need to present their passport or a QR code, will be implemented at the new Singapore Cruise Centre in the second half of 2026.

The initiative was launched at Changi Airport and Marina Bay Cruise Centre in 2024 before being extended to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and Seletar Airport in 2025.

ICA also said it will implement new initiatives, including the Automated Passenger Clearance System (APCS) for car travellers and cargo drivers and attendants from end-2026.

It added that the system will "further enhance the clearance experience and efficiency" for such users and feedback is being gathered to fine-tune the process.

The Facial Recognition@BIKES (FR@BIKES) initiative, also expected in 2026, will allow motorcyclists and their pillion riders to use facial recognition instead of the current fingerprints as their primary biometric mode for automated clearance.

Under the BIKES@Manual Car initiative, ICA will retrofit selected manual car lanes at Woodlands Checkpoint, enabling them to be “flexibly deployed for either automated motorcycle clearance or manual car clearance depending on operational needs".