Lawyer sues lawyer over allegations of sexual misconduct

Singapore — A lawyer who made sexual misconduct allegations against another lawyer now faces a harassment lawsuit by the latter.

The lawyer who made the allegations, Mr Charles Yeo, was in the Reform Party team that contested in Ang Mo Kio GRC in the recent General Election.

The lawyer accused of sexual misconduct is Mr Imran Rahim, a senior associate at law firm Tan Kok Quan Partnership (TKQP).

Mr Yeo made the allegations on July 21 in both video form and written form on his Instagram account, @toxicstatenarrativeinsg.

In the posts, Mr Yeo accused Mr Imran of sexual misconduct and  called him a “race traitor”. He claimed that he had been informed of Mr Imran’s sexual misconduct by “more than 10 members of the public”.

Mr Imran, in his response to the allegations, said he did not know Mr Yeo and did not why Mr Yeo was launching “these personal attacks”  against him. He denied the allegations and said he would be taking steps to vindicate himself.

TKQP also announced that it would be conducting an internal investigation. Mr Imran, who agreed to go on leave of absence, has been assisting his employer with the investigations.

Mr Imran’s lawsuit was filed last week under the Protection from Harassment Act. He is seeking to get Mr Yeo to take down the posts containing the sexual misconduct allegations and to bear the cost of the proceedings.

Mr Imran is represented by a team led by Mr Abraham Vergis from Providence Law Asia, and Mr Yeo is represented by Mr M Ravi, a human rights lawyer.

Mr Ravi announced on Facebook that he had seen the court papers  and added that Mr Yeo was his former law trainee. He has decided to act for Mr Yeo pro bono, although the latter has offered to raise funds through public donation.

The first court hearing has been fixed for late August. /TISG