J
Jiang Wei
Guest
Jul 25, 2011
Lawyer gets life-time ban for 'scandalising the courts'
Former Singapore lawyer Gopalan Nair, who is now an American citizen. July 11, 2008. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG
The Court of Three Judges on Monday barred former Singaporean Gopalan Nair from ever practising law in Singapore.
Justices Tan Lee Meng, Tay Yong Kwang and Lee Seiu Kin struck him off the roll following an application by the Law Society that Mr Nair, 60, face disciplinary action for scandalising the courts and conduct not befitting a lawyer.
The society reached this conclusion last year after a disciplinary tribunal appointed by the Chief Justice convicted him on five counts.
Mr Nair, now an American citizen who lives in California, was not present even though he had been invited to defend himself. He was sentenced to three months' jail in 2008 for contempt of court in remarks on his blog post while on a visit here.
But upon his return to the United States, he announced that he was defying an undertaking given to the court to remove posts which had impugned the integrity of High Court judges.
A former Workers' Party candidate, he emigrated in 1991 and became a US citizen in 2004. Although he stopped practising here, he has remained on the rolls.
He had also, in 1992, been suspended from practising law for two years for remarks about former attorney-general Tan Boon Teik.
