The Online Citizen A Community of Singaporeans Report by Channel Newsasia:
SINGAPORE: Law Minister K Shanmugam said Singapore’s constitutional provision for presidential pardons is similar to what’s practised in countries like the UK, Australia and Malaysia.
He was responding to media queries on the case of convicted drug trafficker Yong Vui Kong.
In 2008, the High Court sentenced Yong to the death penalty for trafficking around 47g of heroin.
On Friday, a High Court judge squashed a petition by defence lawyer M Ravi to review the clemency process, saying that under the constitution, the power to grant pardons lies solely with the Cabinet.
In court, Mr Ravi had also argued that comments made by the minister in May had prejudiced the case.
Asked to respond, Mr Shanmugam said he had been “misrepresented”.
“There have been many misrepresentations about what I said. Those were repeated several times and continued even after Ministry of Law issued a clarification. Some people seem to have difficulties with the facts even after the clarification was issued, and the High Court has dealt with it,” he said.