Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on April 25 that British billionaire Richard Branson showed "disrespect" for the country's judges and criminal justice system after he aired his views on a Singaporean on death row.

The Singaporean, Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was convicted of abetting the trafficking of more than 1kg of cannabis and was sentenced to death on Oct. 9, 2018.

He is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday, April 26.

Branson wrote a April 24 blog post, "Why Tangaraju Suppiah doesn't deserve to die", saying that "Singapore may be about to kill an innocent man" and claiming that Tangaraju's conviction did not meet standards.

The Virgin Group founder's blog post was posted on the Virgin.com website.

Branson has been hitting out against Singapore's death penalty for crimes such as drug trafficking.

In 2022, he also spoke out against the execution of convicted drug trafficker Nagaenthran Dharmalingam.

MHA response

In response, MHA said despite multiple clarifications made previously, Branson "continues to make sweeping assertions against Singapore’s approach on drugs, including the use of the death penalty".

The ministry added that Branson's latest assertion was "patently untrue" and that it was "regrettable" that he "should resort to purporting to know more about the case than Singapore’s Courts, which had examined the case thoroughly and comprehensively over a period of more than three years".

The evidence clearly showed that Tangaraju was coordinating the delivery of drugs for trafficking, MHA said, contrary to Branson's suggestion that the accused was "actually not anywhere near" drugs at the time of his arrest.

"Tangaraju was involved in a case with two others, where his phone numbers were used to communicate with the two others involved in the delivery of the cannabis," said MHA.

"Tangaraju’s defence was that he was not the person communicating with the two others involved in the case. However, the High Court found Tangaraju’s evidence unbelievable, and found that he was communicating with the two others and was the one coordinating the delivery and receipt of cannabis to himself, through the two others."

The High Court also found that Tangaraju had an intention to traffic in the cannabis, MHA added, noting that the accused was represented by legal counsel throughout the court process.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the High Court’s findings and upheld the conviction against Tangaraju, MHA also said.

Background

In late 2022, Branson was invited to Singapore for a live televised debate with Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam to argue his case.

Branson turned down the invitation.

He said the conversation on the death penalty "needs local voices".

What Branson wrote

In his April 24 post, Branson wrote that "Singaporean authorities have repeatedly failed to provide any tangible evidence" for its deterrent measures against drug-related crime.

He also alleged that there is a "disproportionate use" of the death penalty on minorities in Singapore, "an obsession with small-scale drug traffickers", as well as claiming that there is the "widely reported harassment of human rights defenders and capital defence lawyers".

MHA's latest statement pointed to its response to Branson last year, and called these assertions false and untrue.

The ministry said Branson seems to have conveniently ignored clear evidence of the deterrent effect of the death penalty in Singapore’s context that was "repeatedly set out".

MHA said there is a 15 to 19 percentage point reduction in the probability that traffickers would choose to traffic above the capital sentence threshold in the four-year period after the introduction of the mandatory death penalty for trafficking more than 500g of cannabis.

"They were willing to risk imprisonment, but not the death penalty," the ministry added.

"Mr Branson is free to advocate his beliefs for his own countrymen, but he should respect Singaporeans’ choice," MHA said, adding that Singapore’s policies on drugs and the death penalty are derived from the country's own experience and it has worked.

Top photo via Richard Branson Facebook