Lawyer suspended over 'exhibitionist' Facebook posts on pending cases
A lawyer who made social media posts on pending court proceedings and tried to garner public support for his disobedience of a court order to pay costs was suspended for 15 months on Tuesday (April 12).
The Court of Three Judges, which has the power to suspend or disbar lawyers, said the conduct of Mr Zero Nalpon "demonstrated a wilful disregard for the professional standards expected of legal practitioners".
His Facebook posts were "exhibitionist and self-aggrandising" at the expense of the integrity of pending court proceedings and the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) in its legitimate attempts to seek his compliance with the costs order, said the court.
It found that one of Mr Nalpon's posts amounted to contempt of court, as it prejudged an issue that was pending before an appeal judge.
In suspending him, the court also took into account the fact that Mr Nalpon, who has been a lawyer for 26 years, has similar disciplinary antecedents.
In 2014, he was censured by the court for making offensive remarks against certain deputy public prosecutors (DPPs) in letters to the Attorney-General and disseminating these letters to third parties with the intent to humiliate those DPPs.
The current disciplinary action stemmed from a case where Mr Nalpon's client was convicted and sentenced over a drug consumption charge by a district judge in September 2018.
In February 2019, Mr Nalpon published on a public Facebook group material relating to the appeal proceedings.
In a post on Feb 11, he attached a copy of his letter to Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, in which he criticised the district judge for plagiarism.
Mr Nalpon alleged that the district judge's written judgment was "useless and unfair" as a substantive portion was copied from the prosecution's submissions.
Later that month, the Attorney-General directed Mr Nalpon to stop publishing the material. Mr Nalpon removed the posts.
In April 2019, he failed in an application to set aside the direction and was ordered to pay $2,600 in costs to the AGC.
On June 7, 2019, Mr Nalpon handed a cheque to the AGC, made payable to "The Attorney-General".
A prosecutor told Mr Nalpon that the cheque should be made out to the "Attorney-General's Chambers" because there is no bank account in the name of the Attorney-General.
Mr Nalpon then falsely alleged on Facebook that AGC had asked for payment to be made to a "separate entity". He also uploaded the ensuing exchange of correspondence to the Facebook group.
Later that month, two complaints were lodged with the Law Society on behalf of the Attorney-General - one relating to Mr Nalpon's posts on the appeal, and the other relating to his conduct over the costs order.
In June 2021, a disciplinary tribunal found Mr Nalpon guilty of four misconduct charges.
After his case was referred to the court for disciplinary action, Mr Nalpon issued an uncrossed cheque in favour of "The Attorney-General" on Dec 29, 2021.
On Tuesday, the court said Mr Nalpon's Feb 11 post posed a real risk of prejudice to or interference with the pending appeal proceedings.
This was because the extent and effect of the district judge's copying were issues which had yet to be adjudicated, said the court.
As for the costs order, the court said that non-compliance, in and of itself, did not amount to disciplinary misconduct.
The court said what rendered Mr Nalpon's conduct "beyond the pale" were his "transparent attempts" to garner public support for his disobedience of the costs order.
"We thus find this stand of Mr Nalpon's not only wholly incomprehensible, but also clearly mischievous, as he took his campaign to the (virtual) streets," said the court.
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