• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

No prosecution for “perverting the course of justice”?

by Andrew Loh
10/09/2013
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 4 mins read
1

seah5

 

By Andrew Loh –

“On the facts of the present case, every one of the persons involved contributed to the offence of perverting the course of justice,” Justice Choo Han Teck said in his judgement on 19 July 2013. (See here.)

He was referring to the case involving Mr Seah Hock Thiam, who had earlier been “convicted of instigating his driver to get two scapegoats for illegal parking offences committed by his friends.” (Straits Times.)

The offence was committed in 2009.

According to the Straits Times, Mr Seah was convicted of two charges of abetting his driver, Mr Mohamad Azmi Abdul Wahab, 40, to find two people to take the blame for traffic offences committed by Mr John Ho Ah Huat, who drove a Porsche 911 Turbo, and Mr Ong Pang Aik, who drove a Maserati Gran Turino.

Mr Ong is the chairman and managing director of mainboard-listed construction group Lian Beng Group, and is active in the grassroots and community. [See here.]

Mr Oh was the chief executive of Scorpio East Holdings, a video entertainment company.

The two men had parked their cars illegally along Simon Road on Aug 12, 2009.

“After both men received summonses from the Traffic Police asking for the drivers’ particulars,” the Straits Times reported, “Mr Ong faxed over the documents to Seah, who handed them to his driver to settle. Seah paid both scapegoats about $300 each, a sum that included [a] $120 fine.”

Mr Seah was subsequently sentenced to 6 weeks jail in November 2012.

He appealed and Justice Choo reduced his sentence to a 1 week jail term in July 2013.

The 46-year-old Mr Seah is president of Esun International, which deals with the trading of scrap metal.

In his published judgement on the case, Justice Choo said:

“On the facts of the present case, every one of the persons involved contributed to the offence of perverting the course of justice. 

“They were: the two men, Ong (who drove a Maserati Gran Turino) and Ho (who drove a Porsche 911 Turbo); the two persons who took their places; Mohamad Azmi who procured their services; and the appellant who instructed Mohamad Azmi.

“Whether they would be prosecuted is entirely a matter of the Public Prosecutor’s discretion.”

There are several points worth noting and some questions about this case which beg answering.

  1. The perverting of the course of justice was mentioned 8 times in Justice Choo’s judgement.
  2. The judge was of quite certain conviction that “every one of the persons involved contributed to the offence of perverting the course of justice.”
  3. Only Mr Seah was and has been charged and convicted of any offence.

While the judge also said that whether the others would be prosecuted “is entirely a matter of the Public Prosecutor’s discretion”, it is nonetheless puzzling why the Attorney General’s Chambers has chosen, apparently, not to pursue the case with the others.

Justice Choo said:

“[In] view of the fact that the offences committed by Ong and Ho were parking offences, I am of the view that it would be too harsh to place them at the same level of culpability as people who had committed much more serious traffic offences.”

One would beg to differ with the learned Judge. One would think that perverting the course of justice is quite a serious offence by itself, in fact. Whether this had resulted from just parking offences is quite beside the point.

In explaining why he was reducing Mr Seah’s sentence, the judge said:

“Furthermore, it was obvious from the facts that the appellant and his sports car riding friends were wealthy offenders in which a fine would be of little deterrence. What would deter them were demerit points – and a short custodial sentence.”

“The illegal parking offences each attracted a $120 fine and three demerit points,” reported the Straits Times.

One would also like to ask the Attorney General why none of the other offenders have apparently been charged if, as Justice Choo said, “every one of the persons involved contributed to the offence of perverting the course of justice.”

While the AGC has prosecutorial discretion in deciding whether to bring charges against anyone, it would enhance public trust in the judicial and legal system if the AGC could explain its decision in cases such as this one, especially when such an explicit pronouncement of guilt has been made by a learned judge.

Read the details of the case here:

seah3

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.

Related Posts

No update on Karl Liew’s criminal hearing for providing false evidence against Parti Liyani
Crime

No update on Karl Liew’s criminal hearing for providing false evidence against Parti Liyani

01/02/2023
Record jobs growth in 2022, but no breakdown of the foreign and local workers in the workforce and jobs growth
Labour

Record jobs growth in 2022, but no breakdown of the foreign and local workers in the workforce and jobs growth

01/02/2023
Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud
Business

Market ignores Adani’s 413-paged rebuttal against Hindenburg’s allegation and continues the sell-off

01/02/2023
Driver dies after vehicle fell into sea at Keppel Terminal
Singapore

Driver dies after vehicle fell into sea at Keppel Terminal

01/02/2023
One pilot dead after Vietnamese military fighter jet crash
AFP

One pilot dead after Vietnamese military fighter jet crash

31/01/2023
Japan and NATO pledge ‘firm’ response to China, Russia threats
AFP

Japan and NATO pledge ‘firm’ response to China, Russia threats

31/01/2023
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
1 Comment
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

No update on Karl Liew’s criminal hearing for providing false evidence against Parti Liyani

No update on Karl Liew’s criminal hearing for providing false evidence against Parti Liyani

01/02/2023
Record jobs growth in 2022, but no breakdown of the foreign and local workers in the workforce and jobs growth

Record jobs growth in 2022, but no breakdown of the foreign and local workers in the workforce and jobs growth

01/02/2023
Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

Market ignores Adani’s 413-paged rebuttal against Hindenburg’s allegation and continues the sell-off

01/02/2023
Driver dies after vehicle fell into sea at Keppel Terminal

Driver dies after vehicle fell into sea at Keppel Terminal

01/02/2023
One pilot dead after Vietnamese military fighter jet crash

One pilot dead after Vietnamese military fighter jet crash

31/01/2023
Japan and NATO pledge ‘firm’ response to China, Russia threats

Japan and NATO pledge ‘firm’ response to China, Russia threats

31/01/2023
Japanese junior high school sprinter breaks another record in prefectural race

Japanese junior high school sprinter breaks another record in prefectural race

31/01/2023
Malaysia PM stressed the need for people to be allowed to effectively and actively participate in civil society

Malaysia PM stressed the need for people to be allowed to effectively and actively participate in civil society

31/01/2023

Trending posts

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

by Yee Loon
30/01/2023
19

...

Two Indian nationals paid about S$330 and S$730 respectively for forged certificates submitted in their S-Pass application

MOM found issuing EPs meant for foreign PMETs to PRC waitress and general worker

by Correspondent
26/01/2023
41

...

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

by Yee Loon
26/01/2023
24

...

Indian rupee falls 60% since signing of CECA while Singapore becomes top investor in India

by Correspondent
25/01/2023
66

...

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

by The Online Citizen
26/01/2023
58

...

Ho Ching breaks silence over Temasek’s write down of its US$275 million investment in FTX, says it “can afford to be contrarian”

US regulator questions VCs’ due diligence work prior to investing in FTX; Ho Ching says Temasek can afford to be contrarian

by The Online Citizen
24/01/2023
28

...

September 2013
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30  
« Aug   Oct »

The Online Citizen is a regional online publication based in Taiwan and formerly Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.

Navigation

  • Editorial
  • Commentaries
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Community

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Letter submission
  • Membership subscription

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Fact Checking Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

wpDiscuz