Lawyers jailed for trying to obstruct course of justice

Two lawyers who attempted to obstruct the course of justice were each sentenced to jail on Sept 30.

Wee Hong Shern, 37, who had sent another lawyer, Ong Peng Boon, his direct supervisor at the time, a text message relating to contraband cigarettes in May 2019, was given seven months’ jail.

Ong, 68, who forwarded the message to a third man, identified as Tan Hock Ann, was sentenced to a year in jail. Tan was arrested in August 2019 for dealing in duty-unpaid cigarettes.

In February, District Judge Marvin Bay convicted Wee and Ong of one count each of attempting to intentionally obstruct the course of justice.

Before handing down the sentences on Sept 30, the judge said: “The factual matrix, in my judgment, shows Mr Ong to have been far more deeply invested in the criminal activity than his junior colleague.

“The evidence shows Mr Ong to have maintained a tight veil of secrecy in respect of his dealings with (Mr Tan)... Given the obvious secrecy, I sense Mr Wee’s involvement had been for a far shorter term.”

However, Judge Bay stressed that the current case involved two legal professionals who have a duty to uphold justice and facilitate judicial processes.

He said: “They have instead exploited their privileged statuses during court proceedings to transmit and relay encrypted communications to a criminal organisation, in a bid to assist the group avoid law enforcement action.”

According to court documents, Wee sent what had been described as a “cryptic” message to Ong at 11.52am on May 10, 2019.

The message said: “I talked to Ah Boon to update. Basically: Buffalo is busted. Factory is safe for now, but he warns it’s only a matter of time before they find out where it is as they have the SD (card) of Ah Boon’s vehicle.

“They can trace buffalo and find factory eventually. So he said to clear everything from Factory ASAP. Evidence has come out that ST has been paid by China man. His Zello phone was seized, and he didn’t have time (to) delete convos. Bail opened at 55K.”

The court heard that at the time, Wee had just attended a court mention of his then client, Selva Kumar Subramaniam, who had been charged with dealing in duty-unpaid cigarettes. He then sent the message to Ong.

A minute later, Ong forwarded the message to Tan, who had earlier hired him to represent Selva. Ong also followed up with another message stating: “Delete after read.”

The prosecution said it is undisputed that Wee had sent the message to Ong, who then forwarded it to Tan.

Referring to it as the “buffalo message”, deputy public prosecutors Timotheus Koh and Etsuko Lim stated in court documents: “The key question before the court is what Ong and Wee intended when they each sent (it).”

During the trial, one Toh Chin Wen, a syndicate member who was convicted of dealing in duty-unpaid cigarettes, testified that “Ah Boon” was his nickname.

In their submissions, the prosecution said Selva, another syndicate member who had also testified, told the court that “buffalo” referred to a Malaysia-registered lorry carrying duty-unpaid cigarettes.

The DPPs also said: “Tan identified the ‘factory’ as the place where the duty-unpaid cigarettes were unloaded and handled... Selva testified that the SD card of Ah Boon’s vehicle had been seized by Customs.”

However, the DPPs said it is unclear who the “he” in this portion of Wee’s message referred to.

Meanwhile, the court heard that “ST” refers to one Lim Chee Siang, who was a member of the contraband cigarette syndicate.

The DPPs said: “Selva testified that the line, ‘His Zello phone was seized, and he didn’t have time (to) delete convos’, was what he had told Wee on May 10, 2019.

“In other words, Selva’s Zello phone had been seized before he could delete the conversations.”

As for the final line of the message which mentioned “55K”, the prosecution told the court it was undisputed that this was a reference to Selva having been offered bail of $55,000.

Court documents did not disclose the outcome of the cases involving Tan, Toh, Selva and Lim.

The DPPs told Judge Bay that there were clear links between the message and a syndicate dealing in duty-unpaid cigarettes.

Ong is represented by lawyers Eugene Thuraisingam and Suang Wijaya, while Wee is represented by lawyer Ramesh Tiwary.

On Sept 30, the court heard that Ong and Wee intend to appeal against the convictions and sentences.