SINGAPORE - Lawyer M. Ravi has been handed the maximum suspension of five years for making “baseless and grave” allegations against the Attorney-General, prosecutors and the Law Society that undermine the integrity of Singapore’s justice system.
The misconduct arose out of comments that Mr Ravi made in an interview with sociopolitical website The Online Citizen, as well as comments he posted on Facebook, after the Court of Appeal reversed his client’s death sentence in 2020.
A disciplinary tribunal had earlier found Mr Ravi guilty of three out of four misconduct charges and ordered him to pay a penalty of $6,000, but the Law Society pushed for more serious sanctions.
On Tuesday, the Court of Three Judges said Mr Ravi’s grievous allegations against essential pillars of Singapore’s legal system went beyond attacks on the integrity of these institutions themselves and, more fundamentally, cast doubt on the fairness and integrity of the criminal justice system as a whole.
“Mr Ravi’s misconduct exhibits a fundamental lack of respect and a blatant disregard for the integrity of Singapore’s key legal institutions,” said the court in a written judgment delivered by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon.
The court said Mr Ravi’s misconduct “discloses an ingrained belief which points to a defect in character rather than a mere lapse in judgment”.
“Indeed, Mr Ravi’s misconduct is aggravated by his persistence in seeking to undermine the integrity of the legal profession with indifference to the truth,” said
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...r-baseless-allegations-against-justice-system
