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SINGAPORE: The Attorney General appointed lead attorney Alvin Yeo of WongPartnership to defend a lawsuit filed by attorney M Ravi seeking access to certain documents and answers to questions regarding 11 inmates, most of whom are about to die. row.
Appointing an outside attorney will avoid a potential conflict of interest and ensure that the Chambers of the Attorney General (AGC) are above the table to deal with a case in which he is the defendant, lawyers interviewed said Monday (November 9) .
Ravi’s citation of origin also named a second defender: the Superintendent of Changi Prison, who is defended by Abraham Vergis of Providence Asia Law.
One of the plaintiffs in the suit is convicted drug lord Gobi Avedian, who was saved from the gallows last month by a five-member Court of Appeals and received 15 years in prison and 10 strokes of the baton.
The other plaintiffs are understood to be primarily sentenced to death, including convicted drug trafficker Syed Suhail Syed Zin.
Last month, the Court of Appeal gave Syed Suhail permission for a judicial review to argue his claim that those sentenced to death are not treated equally in scheduling executions.
Also on the list is Iskandar Rahmat, who was sentenced to death for the Kovan Road double murder in July 2013, when he killed a car shop owner and the man’s son. While fleeing in a Toyota Camry down Upper Serangoon Road, he dragged the 42-year-old son under the car.
In his civil suit, Mr. Ravi is requesting the court for copies of the letters of the Attorney General (AG) to the prison requesting the prison for copies of the correspondence of the 11 inmates.
He also wants copies of letters from the prison to the attorney general, attaching copies of the correspondence of the 11 plaintiffs.
In addition, he wants copies of the plaintiffs’ correspondence that was sent by the prison to the attorney general, including the attachments.
Among other things, he also wants to know if the correspondence of the referred prisoners was not requested by the prosecutor and if any of the correspondence was revealed to the prosecutor.
Your request to the court is for a pre-action discovery based on the rules of the court, which means that you seek to inspect the documents and obtain answers to related queries to decide whether further legal action will be taken.
In August 2020, the Court of Appeals said, in the sentencing grounds of the case involving Gobi Avedian, that if the AGC had wanted to obtain copies of letters belonging to the prisoner that were in the possession of the prison authorities, the appropriate procedure would have been to obtain the consent of the prisoner or a court order.
The Superior Court pretrial conference is scheduled for November 20.
The attorney general’s decision to hire an outside party as a defense attorney is to ensure that there is no indication that they are not handling this matter adequately when faced with charges.
The president of the Singapore Criminal Lawyers Association. Sunil Sudheesan said the appointment was a “prudent move” as the attorney general had the right to be represented when facing a lawsuit.
Veteran attorney Peter Ong Lip Cheng said the appointment of an outside attorney will avoid a potential conflict of interest and ensure that the AGC is above the table in handling a case in which it is the defendant.
Mr. Ong added: “It is also generally accepted that it is unwise for a defendant to represent himself.”
SC Yeo, when contacted, said: “As allegations have been made against our client, we have been engaged to deal with the matter appropriately and promptly.
As the matter is now before the Court, we cannot comment further. “
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