In a quiet courtroom on Thursday (Jan 18) morning, former Transport Minister S Iswaran looked on as his lead defence lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, engaged in a mini war of words with Chief Prosecutor Tan Kiat Pheng.

There was some back-and-forth in court when Mr Singh raised a matter with the judge on the number of charges, with Mr Tan responding that if he "wants to pursue this subsequently, we will address it in future".

Iswaran had just been charged with 27 offences, including corruption and obtaining valuables as a public servant. It came six months after a probe into him was made public.

CNA looks at the careers of the two prominent lawyers leading their respective teams in the high-profile case, which is set to go to trial in light of Iswaran's not-guilty plea. A pre-trial conference has been fixed on March 1.

WHO ARE THEY?

Mr Tan has more than two decades of prosecutorial experience under his belt.

He has held the position of chief prosecutor at the crime division of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) for the past five years.

Before rising to the top role, Mr Tan served as deputy chief prosecutor at AGC’s financial and technology crime division, dealing with white-collar cases that included a former BSI banker connected to Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal.

He received the Long Service Medal in 2017. He was also awarded the Pingat Kepujian commendation medal, which is given to those who have distinguished themselves through commendable performance and conduct, or significant efficiency, competence and devotion to duty.

Meanwhile, Mr Singh, whose experience spans four decades, is known as one of Singapore’s top legal minds and most feared litigators — a lawyer who specialises in taking cases to trial.

He has been recognised by various local and international legal publications, representing clients in fields like contempt, defamation and insolvency.

Mr Singh was among the pioneer batch of senior counsels appointed in 1997. That same year, he became chief executive officer at Drew & Napier — considered to be one of the “Big Four” law firms in Singapore — a role he held until 2017. He stayed on as executive chairman before starting Davinder Singh Chambers in 2019.

He was a Member of Parliament with the People's Action Party between 1988 and 1991, as well as between 1997 and 2006.

THEIR HIGH-PROFILE CASES

Mr Tan has been at the forefront of cases like the City Harvest Church members’ trial, which became one of the longest criminal trials in Singapore’s history.

Six key members of the church, including founder Kong Hee, were convicted in 2015 of misappropriating about S$24 million of church building funds through sham bond investments, as well as misusing another S$26 million to cover this up.

Mr Tan was among a team of six prosecutors led by now-Justice Mavis Chionh. He was senior director of AGC’s economic crimes and governance division at the time.

During the 142-day trial from 2013 to 2015, he was heavily involved in questioning key witnesses such as Indonesian tycoon Wahju Hanafi — a long-time church member whose company issued bonds to the church.

Also in 2013, Mr Tan headed the prosecution team in the trial of former Singapore Civil Defence Force chief Peter Lim, who was eventually found guilty and sentenced to six months’ jail in a “sex-for-contracts” corruption case.

Lim had obtained sexual gratification from three women in exchange for showing favour to their companies for IT-related tenders.

Three years later, Mr Tan again led a team of prosecutors in the trial of Yeo Jiawei, a former wealth planner at Swiss private bank BSI. He played a crucial role by cross-examining Yeo on the stand, who was later convicted of obstructing justice in connection with Singapore’s then-largest money laundering probe linked to 1MDB.

Yeo later pleaded guilty to money laundering and cheating offences, and was sentenced to 54 months’ jail.

As for Mr Singh, he has represented founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in various civil lawsuits.

In 2015, Mr Singh represented PM Lee in a defamation suit against blogger Roy Ngerng. Mr Singh’s cross-examination of Mr Ngerng during the trial caused the defendant to break down in tears on the witness stand.

Mr Ngerng was later found liable for defamation and ordered to pay PM Lee S$150,000 in damages.

A decade before this, Mr Singh represented Singapore Press Holdings in a defamation suit filed by Mr TT Durai, former head of the National Kidney Foundation Singapore charity.

Mr Durai and NKF had sued SPH over an article that alleged a gold-plated tap was installed in Mr Durai’s office suite.

Mr Durai ended up withdrawing the lawsuit after two days of being grilled by Mr Singh on the witness stand. Mr Singh’s questioning revealed that Mr Durai collected S$1.8 million in salaries and bonuses over three years, which was a closely guarded secret until the trial.

These revelations led to Mr Durai and NKF’s board of directors resigning en masse shortly after the trial.

Most recently, Mr Singh represented Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council (PRPTC) in what became known as the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC) trial. It involved three key members of the Workers’ Party — MPs Sylvia Lim and Pritam Singh, as well as Low Thia Kiang.

From 2016 to 2020, Mr Singh represented PRPTC in its claims to recover losses allegedly incurred when Punggol East constituency was under WP-managed Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council.

WHAT OTHER LAWYERS SAY

Lawyers whom CNA spoke to described both Mr Tan and Mr Singh in glowing terms.

Mr Alexander Woon, a former deputy public prosecutor who dealt with financial crimes, said Mr Tan “is very hard working and determined, and will fight for what he thinks is right no matter the odds against him”.

Mr Woon described his former superior as a “career legal service officer”, which meant he is probably not as well-known in legal circles as Mr Singh.

“I think he is generally thought of as a steady, dependable, and decent prosecutor,” said Mr Woon, who now practises at RHTLaw Asia and lectures at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

“(He) is first and foremost a man of principle. I recall as a young officer, I made a mistake on a file. When I went to him to inform him, he told me, 'Don’t worry, I was the clearing officer and I didn’t catch it, so it is my mistake too.'”

Veteran criminal lawyer Gino Hardial Singh said the top prosecutor keeps a “low profile” and is a “kind and fair man”. "No doubt that he is a good lawyer," he added.

Meanwhile, the founder of Abbots Chambers said that “Davinder Singh needs no introduction”, adding: “He’s assertive and meticulous and in the same league as (Home Affairs and Law Minister) K Shanmugam.”

Mr Nichol Yeo, director at Nine Yards Chambers, noted that Mr Singh is recognised as the best cross-examiner in Singapore and his firm is the “go-to for our ministers”.

Calling the senior counsel “legendary”, Mr Yeo said Mr Singh has dedicated his life to the courtroom. “The amount of work and preparation his team puts into a case is astounding.”

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by Today Online

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