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Lawyer M Ravi, 53, was handed a five-year suspension for making "baseless" accusations against the Attorney-General (AG), prosecutors from the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC), and the Law Society (LawSoc).
Five years is the maximum sanction possible for a lawyer's misconduct.
The decision was made on Tuesday (Mar. 21) by the Court of Three Judges, led by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon.
M Ravi made "baseless and grave allegations"
In his written judgement, Sundaresh said Ravi made "baseless and grave allegations" and had demonstrated his failure to uphold public confidence in the integrity of the legal system and legal profession.
Sundaresh added that Ravi's misconduct exhibits "fundamental lack of respect and blatant disregard for the integrity of Singapore's key legal institutions".
"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."
The full written judgement is available online.
Background
Reversed a capital charge for his client
Ravi was the defence lawyer for Gobi Avedian, a Malaysian man who was charged with one count of importing not less than 40.22g of heroin.
Gobi was initially given the death sentence, but was acquitted by a High Court judge in 2017.
Later in 2018, the prosecution appealed on the grounds that the High Court judge had "erred" in the decision, according to CNA.
Gobi's capital charge was subsequently reinstated.
In September 2019, Ravi began acting for Gobi and on Oct. 19, 2020, Ravi shared that the Court of Appeal had set aside Gobi's death sentence on account of a miscarriage of justice.
Made comments during an interview with TOC
Following the reversal of the capital charge, Ravi gave an interview to The Online Citizen (TOC) outside the Supreme Court building.
Ravi said the public prosecutor was "overzealous" in the prosecution of Gobi.
"The State has been overzealous in its prosecution, the public prosecutor has been overzealous in its prosecution and that has led to the death sentence of Gobi."
Ravi 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".
Ravi also asked for the public prosecutor and the government to apologise to Gobi.
"I'm saying this to the State and the prosecution and the Minister of Law. Please apologise to Gobi, and for the suffering, his family, and he has gone through during this process, because the prosecution, as the Court observed, ran a different case in the High Court and the Court of Appeal. So therefore, the prosecution, essentially the fairness of the prosecution, is called into question by the Court itself."
Was asked by AGC to apologise and retract the allegations
AGC later sent Ravi a letter, asking him to apologise and unconditionally renounce the allegations he made.
However, Ravi published the letter on his Facebook page instead.
Ravi said in his post that he was "entitled to [his] criticisms of the unfairness associated to the miscarriage of justice".
"As counsel for Gobi I am entitled to make my professional views known, and state matters like the unfairness in the prosecution of Gobi as to why prosecution ran a different case at trial and appeal as observed by the court."
Ravi called the letter he received "threatening and humiliating", and encouraged the public to demand that the AGC retract its letter and apologise.
M Ravi responds to the latest court judgement
In response to being handed a five-year suspension, Ravi said in a Facebook post on Mar. 21, 2023 that he was "glad" he managed to reopen a death penalty case and "save at least one life (Gobi)".
"I have choices. I chose to dedicate my 20 years to the cause of human rights and access to justice in Singapore at huge personal cost. I have no regrets.
I have my international law practices in a few countries. I will continue to positively contribute to these countries through my ESG work whilst I enjoy the support of fellow lawyers and the love of the people in these countries."
Ravi also quoted a paragraph from the written judgement and said that he would "leave it to the court of public opinion" to interpret the quote.
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Top image screenshot from The Online Citizen video.