The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) has filed a disciplinary complaint to the Law Society of Singapore against human rights lawyer M. Ravi.

This comes after the AGC demanded that Ravi apologise for comments that he made during a media interview after the death penalty of Malaysian drug trafficker Gobi Avedian was overturned due to miscarriage of justice.

In response, Ravi asked the AGC to apologise to Gobi and his family, and stated that he would be helping Gobi initiate legal proceedings against three of the AGC's Senior Counsels.

AGC asked Ravi to apologise

In an interview with The Online Citizen outside of the Supreme Court building on Oct. 19, Ravi said that the public prosecutor was "overzealous" in the prosecution of Gobi, which led to the death sentence of Gobi.

Gobi had been charged with importing 40.22 grammes of heroin, convicted, and sentenced to death after being caught at Woodlands Checkpoint in Dec. 2014, reported CNA.

He was acquitted by a High Court judge in 2017 and had his charge reduced to attempted drug importation, but was again convicted the following year by the Court of Appeal on the original capital charge, after an appeal by the prosecution.

On Oct. 19, the conviction for the capital charge was set aside by the Court of Appeal.

In his interview, Gobi also called attention to the fact that the public prosecutor had run a different case before the High Court and the Court of Appeal, saying it was "troubling", and said that the "fairness of the Prosecution is called into question".

The Court of Appeal found that the prosecution had changed its case before the High Court and the Court of Appeal — it argued wilful blindness by Gobi in the former, but argued that Gobi had actual knowledge in the latter — and that this change prejudiced Gobi.

In a press statement on Oct. 20, the AGC called Ravi's statements "serious allegations that the public prosecutor has acted in bad faith or maliciously in the prosecution of [Gobi]", saying that they were "false and highly inflammatory".

The AGC sent Ravi a letter demanding that he apologise and unconditionally renounce his allegations, and gave him until 12pm on Oct. 22 to respond.

Ravi responds and demands AGC apologise

On Oct. 21, Ravi shared on Facebook that he had responded to the AGC's letter, and shared screenshots of his reply.

In his letter, Ravi stated that he did not deny that he had made the statements that the AGC said he made.

However, he said that he did not make the statements with reasons to believe that they were false, and that there were "sufficient bases for the statements to be made, both objective and subjective."

The letter alleged that the prosecution had "fell afoul" with its "fundamental duty to assist in the administration of justice" by not applying for a review of Gobi's case after another similar case's decision was overturned, instead accusing Ravi of abusing the court's process when he applied for an appeal.

For these reasons, Ravi said, the AGC's requests for an apology and retraction of statements were "not only plainly without basis, but also insulting given the fact that your chambers have treated Gobi's life with such a blatant disregard."

He added that he and his law firm instructed Gobi and his family to seek a public apology from the prosecution.

In addition, he said, Gobi and his family gave "firm instructions" to commence legal actions against Attorney-General Lucien Wong, Deputy Attorney-General Hri Kumar Nair, and other members of the prosecution.

Ravi gave the AGC a deadline of Friday (Oct. 23) at 5pm to reply with whether the prosecution would be issuing an apology to Gobi and his family.

AGC files disciplinary complaint to Law Society of Singapore

The AGC announced in a media release on Friday (Oct. 23) that it had filed a disciplinary complaint to the Law Society of Singapore about "possible professional misconduct" by Ravi.

The release said that Ravi's allegations were "false" and "misleading", and that they "unfairly and illegitimately discredit AGC".

The disciplinary complaint came after Ravi "did not comply" with the letter requesting that he apologise and unconditionally retract his statements, said the AGC.

"In filing the complaint, AGC is of the view that Mr Ravi’s conduct falls short of the standards of professional conduct to be expected from an advocate and solicitor of the court."

"As the matter is now pending before the Law Society, AGC will not be commenting further," the media release ended.

Ravi to challenge the complaint in court

In a Facebook post on Saturday (Oct. 24), Ravi responded to the complaint, saying that he will be challenging the complaint and the complaint mechanism — which he said gives the Attorney-General "'special' powers" over him — in court.

He told CNA that the Attorney-General is "abusing the process":

"The Attorney-General is abusing the process, as a complaint to the Law Society will land in a disciplinary tribunal, because the Chief Justice has no discretion but is mandated by Parliament to convene a disciplinary tribunal."

Ravi pointed out the different mechanisms for complaints made against lawyers, as compared to complaints made against public prosecutors, in his Facebook post.

Speaking with CNA, he said:

"When a complaint is made against a lawyer, the Attorney-General enjoys special status where the Chief Justice has no power to say 'no'.

This is unconstitutional and violates my right to equality."

Ravi will commence proceedings to "challenge this unequal position" and plans to take the Law Society and the Attorney-General "to court on this", he told CNA.

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Top photo via Wikimedia Commons Facebook / The Online Citizen.