Jul 16, 2010
Cleared of wrongdoing
<!-- by line --> By Selina Lum & K.C. Vijayan
<!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->
Mr Singh, 61, made legal history as the first person charged in Singapore with making a false claim, an offence that has been in force for over a century. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
AFTER five years and spending about $1 million in legal fees, lawyer Bachoo Mohan Singh, who was initially convicted of helping a client make a false claim, walked out of court a free man. In throwing out the conviction, the Court of Appeal gave a landmark ruling in a split decision.
Mr Singh, 61, made legal history as the first person charged in Singapore with making a false claim, an offence that has been in force for over a century; he is also the first lawyer in Commonwealth countries to be convicted of such an offence.
After the decision, the biggest reaction came not from the lawyer of 36 years' standing, but his sister, former Netball Singapore president Ivy Singh-Lim. She proclaimed she loved her country and wanted to know how much State funds have been spent on her brother's case.
Mr Singh's case arose from a 2003 property deal involving a flat buyer and seller who were in a purported cashhback scheme in which an inflated sale price is declared to the HDB.
Read the full story in Friday's edition of the Straits Times.