Singapore lawyer M. Ravi slapped with 5-year suspension for ‘baseless’ attacks against judiciary
- Ravi had made allegations of improper conduct by prosecutors after he helped a Malaysian drug convict escape the gallows on review
- A court said Ravi’s ‘misconduct exhibits a fundamental lack of respect and a blatant disregard for the integrity of Singapore’s key legal institutions’
M. Ravi had told an online publication outside the Supreme Court in 2020 that the public prosecutor had been “overzealous in his prosecution”, after he helped a Malaysian drug convict escape the death penalty on review.
While Singapore is economically successful and ranks among the world’s least corrupt countries, rights groups frequently accuse the government of restricting free speech and civil liberties.
“No solicitor can be permitted to recklessly and baselessly undermine the very pillars of the legal system in which he … operates; to do so would plainly cause grave injury to public confidence in the legal profession,” the court said in its decision.
“In our judgment, Mr Ravi’s misconduct exhibits a fundamental lack of respect and a blatant disregard for the integrity of Singapore’s key legal institutions,” it added.
After winning the 2020 review for Gobi Avedian, the outspoken lawyer had also asked the state, the prosecutors and the law minister to apologise to his client.