'Inherent difficulties' in AGC's case against Li Shengwu: Chief Justice

[glockman]

So does this mean that Pinky has no case against his nephew?


Nicholas Yong
Assistant News Editor
Yahoo News Singapore18 January 2019

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon has taken the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to task for the arguments that it has presented against Li Shengwu, noting that there were now “inherent difficulties” in what has transpired in the case.

CJ Menon was speaking on Friday (18 January) at an Apex Court hearing of Li’s appeal against an earlier decision by the High Court that had allowed AGC to serve papers on him outside Singapore, relating to contempt of court proceedings.

He told AGC’s Senior Counsel Francis Ng, “Your arguments have abandoned the original arguments of the Attorney-General for proceeding (with this case).

“You’re now saying that the correct jurisdictional basis is Section 15, but that was not the basis on which you obtained your original leave. If you wanted to pursue a different line, it was incumbent upon you to come and ask permission.”

The Chief Justice was referring to Section 15 of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, which defines the criminal jurisdiction of the Singapore High Court. Lawyers acting for AGC and Li had been instructed by the Court of Appeal to make legal submissions addressing a number of key questions.

They included: which laws allow Singapore courts to exercise jurisdiction over an alleged contemnor (someone who commits contempt of court) who has gone overseas, and whether a newly enacted law that enables serving documents on a person who is overseas can be applied retroactively.

In response, Ng maintained that AGC was not changing the basis on which jurisdictional basis was sought. Nevertheless, he acknowledged, “I wrongly assumed that the breadth of the question permitted latitude.”

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/inherent-difficulties-agcs-case-li-shengwu-chief-justice-102607586.html

 

[rushifa666]

Bpttom part is bs. Why is yahoo coverkng for the idiot agc? These were the same fools whk dont even nknow the law they passed cannot be used if lky was dead!

 

[winnipegjets]

Lure him back and then throw him in the slammers. That's the trick. I think he is smarter than the PAP in everyway.

 

[Hypocrite-The]

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Court of Appeal hears Li Shengwu's appeal in contempt of court case
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Court of Appeal hears Li Shengwu's appeal in contempt of court case
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Court of Appeal hears Li Shengwu's appeal in contempt of court case
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Li Shengwu who faces contempt of court proceedings in his homeland at Harvard University
Li Shengwu, nephew of Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, is seen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US on Aug 12, 2017. (File photo: Reuters/Tim McLaughlin)
By Lydia Lam
18 Jan 2019 01:05PM
(Updated: 18 Jan 2019 09:51PM)
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SINGAPORE: The Court of Appeal on Friday (Jan 18) heard the arguments in Mr Li Shengwu's appeal against a previous decision that allowed the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) to serve papers on him outside Singapore.

The papers were in relation to a contempt of court case. Mr Li, the nephew of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, was taken to court by the AGC for allegedly saying in a Facebook post in July 2017 that Singapore has a "pliant court system" and that the Singapore Government was "very litigious".

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Mr Li, 34, had applied to set aside the court order that granted the AGC permission to serve papers on him in the US, but the High Court dismissed his application in March 2018.

READ: AGC takes action against Li Shengwu for contempt of court over Facebook post
Mr Li, who now lives in the United States and is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard University, then turned to the highest court in Singapore - the Apex Court, in a bid to appeal the High Court's decision.

After an Apex Court hearing in September last year, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Judges of Appeal Judith Prakash and Steven Chong granted Mr Li the green light to appeal against the High Court's decision.

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The Court of Appeal directed both the AGC's lawyers and Mr Li's lawyers to make legal submissions addressing questions including: What written laws, if any, allow the Singapore Court to exercise substantive jurisdiction over a person located overseas in a contempt matter; and whether the AGC can rely on a newly enacted law to serve documents on a person whose alleged contempt of court was committed before the law was enacted.

FACEBOOK POST "WIDELY READ BY SINGAPOREANS": AGC

Mr Li's lawyer, Abraham Vergis, along with AGC's senior counsel Francis Ng, made their arguments in a packed open court to Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Judges of Appeal Tay Yong Kwang and Steven Chong.

Both sides referred to various laws laid down in the Rules of Court, as well as the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (SCJA), in answering the questions posed by the Chief Justice.

Mr Vergis argued that both sections of the SCJA which Mr Ng was relying on "are not the statutory bases" for the court to exercise substantive jurisdiction over a person who has committed contempt of court but who is overseas.

He also disagreed with Mr Ng's assertion that a section in Order 11 of the Rules of Court applies retroactively.

Senior counsel Francis Ng urged the Apex Court to dismiss Mr Li's appeal with costs, saying that there was evidence that Mr Li's Facebook post had been published when he was in Singapore.

"The post concerned the Singapore courts, and only the Singapore courts, and was widely read by the Singaporean public via dissemination of a screenshot of the post," said Mr Ng.

Asked by Justice Tay if his client had been in Singapore at the time of his Facebook post, Mr Vergis said: "I don't propose to give evidence from the bar on this position."

Pressed further, he maintained his decision not to respond to the question as "that's not a matter of evidence".

"The Attorney-General has put on record that your client was in Singapore," said Justice Tay. "And you have not replied."

Mr Vergis did not address the question. Instead, he took issue with what he said was the AGC changing its basis of jurisdiction from Section 7 of the SCJA to Section 15 of the SCJA, but Mr Ng said its position "has not changed".

Mr Ng stressed that the action the AGC is taking against Mr Li is based on existing contempt laws that were already in force when he allegedly made the offending Facebook post.

Mr Vergis also asserted that the court has no power to serve contempt proceedings on a person overseas, unless the person submits to the court.

The judges reserved their judgment.

FACEBOOK POST MADE ON THE BACK OF OXLEY ROAD SPAT

The Facebook post at the heart of the case was made on the back of a public spat between Mr Li's father, aunt and uncle: Mr Lee Hsien Yang, Dr Lee Wei Ling and PM Lee.

image: data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==

FILE PHOTO - A view of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's Oxley Road residence in Singapore
A view of former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's Oxley Road residence in Singapore, taken in June 2017 (Photo: Reuters/Edgar Su)
READ: Dispute over 38 Oxley Road: A timeline of events
The arguments revolved around the future of the former family home at 38 Oxley Road, which belonged to Mr Li's grandfather, founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

In the months since the last public hearing over Mr Li's case, his father Mr Lee Hsien Yang has spoken out on Facebook about a case of "possible professional misconduct" that the AGC has flagged to the Law Society over his wife, Ms Lee Suet Fern.

READ: AGC alleges ‘possible professional misconduct’ by Lee Hsien Yang's wife
READ: Lee Hsien Yang says wife was never Lee Kuan Yew's lawyer, questions timing of AGC's move
AGC said in a statement earlier this month that Ms Lee "appears to have prepared the Last Will of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and arranged for Mr Lee Kuan Yew to execute it, despite the fact that her husband, Mr Lee Hsien Yang, is one of the beneficiaries under the Last Will".

Both Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling took to Facebook to air their views about the AGC's "relentless" pursuit of Mr Li, as well as its assertions against Ms Lee Suet Fern.

Source: CNA/ll(cy)
Tagged Topics
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Li Shengwu

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Lee Hsien Loong
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Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...peal-contempt-of-court-facebook-post-11134802

 

[AhMeng]

Fugging waste of taxpayers money for personal agenda purpose. Really Fuck PAP deep deep.

 

[eatshitndie]

In response, Ng maintained that AGC was not changing the basis on which jurisdictional basis was sought. Nevertheless, he acknowledged, “I wrongly assumed that the breadth of the question permitted latitude.”

in other words, anyhow suka humtam also can.

 

[steffychun]

Come sue Li in a Trump court.

 

[JohnTan]

The singapore judicial system has worldwide jurisdiction of all sinkies, including turncoats like shengwu. Even if a sinkie were to flee to the ends of the world, our court system here still has legal jurisdiction over him. The AGC has the full authority to serve him papers and hold him accountable for his terrible crimes.

 

[steffychun]

The singapore judicial system has worldwide jurisdiction of all sinkies, including turncoats like shengwu. Even if a sinkie were to flee to the ends of the world, our court system here still has legal jurisdiction over him. The AGC has the full authority to serve him papers and hold him accountable for his terrible crimes.

STFU you rapist.

 

[JohnTan]

STFU you rapist.

I fucked your mother, bitch!

 

[glockman]

The singapore judicial system has worldwide jurisdiction of all sinkies, including turncoats like shengwu. Even if a sinkie were to flee to the ends of the world, our court system here still has legal jurisdiction over him. The AGC has the full authority to serve him papers and hold him accountable for his terrible crimes.

You are so humorous. Crimes like genocide, murder, rape, robbery etc I agree. But a harmless private Facebook post? Come on lah. The other country would simply say

 

[JohnTan]

You are so humorous. Crimes like genocide, murder, rape, robbery etc I agree. But a harmless private Facebook post? Come on lah. The other country would simply say

Singapore's courts already have worldwide jurisdiction over all sinkies for drug related crimes and defamation cases. Our courts have used the Mareva Injunction against oppies who fled abroad to escape justice and hoped to preserve their ill-gotten gains.

 

[glockman]

Singapore's courts already have worldwide jurisdiction over all sinkies for drug related crimes and defamation cases. Our courts have used the Mareva Injunction against oppies who fled abroad to escape justice and hoped to preserve their ill-gotten gains.

What is deemed defamation in sinkieland, is deemed as exercising free speech and freedom of the press elsewhere.

 

[KNNBHCB]

The singapore judicial system has worldwide jurisdiction of all sinkies, including turncoats like shengwu. Even if a sinkie were to flee to the ends of the world, our court system here still has legal jurisdiction over him. The AGC has the full authority to serve him papers and hold him accountable for his terrible crimes.

Lan jiao lah even the CJ also say no sibei kang kor case
You so clever ah? Go and find Alex Tan lah
Fuck your mother phua chee bye for toking cock here

 

[batman1]

Govt Amend the law so that AGC could sue the accused retroactively ?

 

[mojito]

Why is loyalty to Loong and Ching so difficult?

 

[ThePimp]

Why is loyalty to Loong and Ching so difficult?

Mainly because they are ugly................................ like you.

 

[steffychun]

I fucked your mother, bitch!

Your daughter not raped enough?

 

[borom]

Constitution of the Republic of Singapore,
PART IV
Fundamental Liberties
Protection against retrospective criminal laws and repeated trials
11.—(1) No person shall be punished for an act or omission which was not punishable by law when it was done or made, and no person shall suffer greater punishment for an offence than was prescribed by law at the time it was committed

Section 11 of the Constitution states clearly that the law cannot be apply retrospectively -that's how a laymen like me interpret the above.
Can any lawyer help out on this

The Chief Justice himself said
"At the heart of the rule of law lies the idea that all persons and all authorities are bound by, and entitled to, the benefit of laws that are publicly administered in the courts. This central idea is multi-faceted. First, it necessitates that laws possess certain traits. They must be clear; they must be published and made accessible; they must take effect in the future and not retrospectively ";
( Speech titled THE RULE OF LAW AND THE SICC , 10 January 2018, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Speaker Series)
https://www.sicc.gov.sg/docs/defaul...le/b_58692c78-fc83-48e0-8da9-258928974ffc.pdf

If the law cannot be retrospective, than how can it be retroactive?

 

[JohnTan]

What is deemed defamation in sinkieland, is deemed as exercising free speech and freedom of the press elsewhere.

It is a known fact that Singapore's courts are impartial and professional while foreign courts are crooked and incompetent.