Updated: 10/01/2013 19:02 | By Channel NewsAsia
Disbarred lawyer reinstated after more than 15 years
SINGAPORE: A former lawyer who was disbarred 15 and a half years ago after asking for a S$100,000 bribe on behalf of his client, has been allowed to practise law again.
A Court of Three Judges accepted on Tuesday the application of Mr Narindar Singh Kang to be restored to the roll of advocates and solicitors of the Supreme Court.
In an 18-page document, Judges of Appeal Chao Hick Tian, Andrew Phang and VK Rajah said they are satisfied that Mr Narindar has met the requirements for the reinstatement.
They noted that it has been over five years since Mr Narindar's failed first application to be reinstated.
In the interim, the judges noted, Mr Narindar has conducted himself well and "did not come to any adverse notice with the law".
They also noted supportive references from various people, including leaders of the social and religious groups that Mr Narindar has been active in, his employers and current members of the bar.
The disbarred lawyer first applied to be reinstated in 2007.
His application was thrown out as his disbarment then was deemed to be too short to reflect the seriousness of his offence.
Mr Narindar was struck off the roll in 1997, after he was convicted in 1996 of asking for a S$100,000 bribe on behalf of his client in May 1995.
His client was one of two men convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death.
On the day before he was due to be executed, the client had offered a confession of full responsibility for the offence, that would absolve the co-accused of any wrong doing.
In return, the co-accused would pay the client's family the money.
The offer was made through Mr Narindar.
The two drug offenders were eventually hanged.
For his role in soliciting the bribe on behalf on his client, Mr Narindar was sentenced to five months' jail.
He appealed against the conviction and sentence, but then Chief Justice Yong Pung How threw out the appeal and increased the jail term to 12 months.
Following his release from prison, Mr Narindar, who was by then disbarred, tried his hand at business and worked in a number of non-legal jobs for several years.
In August 2010, he decided to return to legal work on the grounds that he could not gain satisfaction from the other jobs that he had held.
He has been a paralegal since then. - CNA/nd
