Amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act
In 2012, Parliament amended the Misuse of Drugs Act (“MDA”) to allow exceptions to Singapore’s Mandatory Death Penalty for certain drug-related offences.
One of these exemptions allows for convicted persons who are found to have only participated in drug offenses at the level of courier (or “drug mule”). If they are deemed to have have provided substantive assistance to the Central Narcotics Bureau (“CNB”), they would be issued with a CoC which allows them to be re-sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane instead of being sentenced to death by hanging.
The decision as to whether the assistance provided by the accused person has been “substantive” rests with the Public Prosecutor and the basis on which the facts of each case are considered is not disclosed to the Court or the accused.
Assistance provided
In Mr Cheong’s case, the 30 year-old, who has spent the last 5 years in prison, asserts that he has provided the CNB with all the information known to him concerning the offence.
In the judgment issued in Mr Cheong’s case, however, the High Court observed that “the CNB did not make adequate efforts to trace [an individual in question] or check his cell-phones.”
Subsequent to the amendment of the MDA in 2012, the Public Prosecutor’s office reviewed Mr Cheong’s assistance to the CNB and decided that Mr Cheong had not achieved the criteria of having aided the CNB ‘in disrupting drug trafficking activities within or outside Singapore’.
While the Prosecutor has determined that Mr Cheong was a courier, they have denied Mr Cheong a Certificate of Cooperation recognizing his assistance to the CNB, which would have provided the sentencing judge with an exception to the Mandatory Death Penalty.
As such, Mr Cheong will face a sentence of death by hanging.
Calling for Review
In his application today, Mr Cheong – who is represented by lawyer M Ravi -contends that the Public Prosecutor could not make a determination on the value of the intelligence he provided to the CNB on the criteria of the outcome of the investigation based on his information. This is because it has been recognized by the Court that the CNB “did not make adequate efforts” to investigate the information provided.
“Where the failure to make use of the Intelligence… was not of my doing, it amounts to a denial to me of the benefit of the dispensatory effect of s. 33(B)(2)(b) of the MDA”, Mr Cheong says in his affidavit, referring to the section of the MDA which offers an exception to the death penalty.
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