Lawyer charged with forgery was police officer at the time alleged offences were committed
A lawyer, charged on Tuesday (June 21) with multiple counts of forgery, was an officer from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) when he allegedly committed the offences.
Willjude Vimalraj Raymond Suras' alleged forgeries concerned 38 documents across 21 investigation papers.
They are said to involve concluded criminal proceedings, coroner's matters and criminal cases which did not give rise to prosecution.
Willjude, now 31, resigned from the force on April 20, 2019, before the completion of police investigation into the alleged forgeries and became a lawyer after that.
A search on the Ministry of Law's website reveals that he is a legal counsel at a firm called Advance Law.
Willjude, who was handed 38 forgery charges on Tuesday, is accused of committing the offences in 2018 and 2019.
According to court documents, he allegedly committed the bulk of the offences at Woodlands Police Division in Woodlands Street 12.
He is also accused of one count of intentionally giving false evidence during a judicial proceeding on Dec 22, 2020.
He is said to have made a false statement in his affidavit for admission to the Singapore Bar, that he was not the subject of any pending investigations here.
In an unrelated case, a policeman, 38, was also charged on Tuesday with multiple counts of forgery.
Kenny Cheong Chyuan Lih's alleged acts of forgery led to eight reopened coroner's inquiries.
Each man was offered bail of $15,000 and their cases have been adjourned to Aug 2.
In a joint statement, the SPF and Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) said the pair's alleged acts of forgery came to light following internal investigations by the police.
The agencies said: "After the discovery of discrepancies in some of the documents, all the cases investigated by (Cheong and Willjude) were thoroughly reviewed by SPF and (AGC), to uncover any other purported wrongdoings."
The agencies also said that coroner's matters which Willjude had investigated did not proceed to the coroner's inquiry stage. "A review by AGC found that the decisions not to proceed with (inquiries) in these cases were correctly made and were not affected by the forgeries."
As for the affected concluded criminal proceedings linked to the pair, AGC had reassessed all the evidence including statements from witnesses.
It then determined that there was sufficient evidence to support all the criminal convictions. All parties concerned were also notified.
AGC also reviewed all the criminal cases linked to the pair that did not give rise to prosecution.
In one case, it determined that the decision to take no further action against an individual was not supported by objective evidence.
It then directed for a stern warning to be given to the person whose particulars were not disclosed in the joint statement. Details about the case he or she was linked to were also not revealed.
The two agencies did not disclose in their statement if this particular case involved Cheong or Willjude.
As for the remaining cases that did not give rise to prosecution, the review found that the outcomes were supported by other available evidence.
For each count of forgery, an offender can be jailed for up to four years and fined.
If convicted of intentionally giving false evidence in a judicial proceeding, Willjude can be jailed for up to seven years and fined.
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