AG Woon says there's only one law for both the rich and poor
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 11 December 2008 2133 hrs
SINGAPORE: There is no such thing as one law for the rich and one for the poor, nor one for the well-connected in Singapore.
Attorney-General Walter Woon made this clear as he delivered the inaugural Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore (ACLS) lecture on Thursday.
Interest in the topic had been stoked after the Association's president Subhas Anandan raised the issue in its newsletter of certain well-off or white-collar accused persons being allowed to pay compound fines for their offences.
Professor Woon argued that a common scenario is for the courts to refuse to let the accused settle privately with the victim in simple cases. In such cases, the fine goes to court and the victim is no better off financially.
On the other hand, Mr Subhas cited cases where the offender is allowed to compound his offence with no objection from the prosecution.
One such recent case cited was a doctor who paid S$51,000 to a lady patient who claimed she was molested by him.
Outlining the scenarios under which his office prosecutes, Prof Woon stressed that while compensation naturally favours richer people, the judge acts as a final check as to whether this can be allowed, as long as public interest is not adversely affected.
"What factors do we not consider? We don't consider whether someone is rich, certainly not – or politically well-connected. We cannot conduct prosecutions on the basis that some people are above the law. Certainly we don't conduct prosecutions on the basis that the rich and well-connected get away with it.
"This is dangerous; this undermines the whole rule of law – that some people think because of their political convictions, they cannot be touched. That is a very, very slippery slope. Not the game that we will play here," he said.
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 11 December 2008 2133 hrs
SINGAPORE: There is no such thing as one law for the rich and one for the poor, nor one for the well-connected in Singapore.
Attorney-General Walter Woon made this clear as he delivered the inaugural Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore (ACLS) lecture on Thursday.
Interest in the topic had been stoked after the Association's president Subhas Anandan raised the issue in its newsletter of certain well-off or white-collar accused persons being allowed to pay compound fines for their offences.
Professor Woon argued that a common scenario is for the courts to refuse to let the accused settle privately with the victim in simple cases. In such cases, the fine goes to court and the victim is no better off financially.
On the other hand, Mr Subhas cited cases where the offender is allowed to compound his offence with no objection from the prosecution.
One such recent case cited was a doctor who paid S$51,000 to a lady patient who claimed she was molested by him.
Outlining the scenarios under which his office prosecutes, Prof Woon stressed that while compensation naturally favours richer people, the judge acts as a final check as to whether this can be allowed, as long as public interest is not adversely affected.
"What factors do we not consider? We don't consider whether someone is rich, certainly not – or politically well-connected. We cannot conduct prosecutions on the basis that some people are above the law. Certainly we don't conduct prosecutions on the basis that the rich and well-connected get away with it.
"This is dangerous; this undermines the whole rule of law – that some people think because of their political convictions, they cannot be touched. That is a very, very slippery slope. Not the game that we will play here," he said.
