(2023) SGHC 65

IN THE COURT OF THREE JUDGES OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE
[2023] SGHC 65
Originating Summons No 2 of 2022
Between
Law Society of Singapore

… Applicant
And
Ravi s/o Madasamy

… Respondent
JUDGMENT
[Legal Profession — Disciplinary proceedings]
Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

This judgment is subject to final editorial corrections approved by the
court and/or redaction pursuant to the publisher’s duty in compliance
with the law, for publication in LawNet and/or the Singapore Law
Reports.
Law Society of Singapore

v
Ravi s/o Madasamy
[2023] SGHC 65
Court of Three Judges — Originating Summons No 2 of 2022

Sundaresh Menon CJ, Tay Yong Kwang JCA and Belinda Ang JCA
9 November 2022
21 March 2023 Judgment reserved.
Sundaresh Menon CJ (delivering the judgment of the court):
Introduction
1 C3J/OS 2/2022 (“OS 2”) is an application by the Law Society of

Singapore (the “Law Society”) for the respondent, Mr Ravi s/o Madasamy (“Mr
Ravi”), to be sanctioned under s 83(1) of the Legal Profession Act 1966 (2020
Rev Ed) (the “LPA”). The misconduct that is in issue before us arose out of
comments which Mr Ravi made when he was interviewed by The Online
Citizen Asia (“TOC Asia”) and other comments he subsequently posted on
Facebook following the release of the Court of Appeal’s oral grounds in Gobi
a/l Avedian v Public Prosecutor [2021] 1 SLR 180 (“Gobi (Review)”) on 19
October 2020. Mr Ravi’s remarks suggested improper conduct on the part of the
Attorney-General, the then-Deputy Attorney-General Mr Hri Kumar Nair (the
“DAG”), the prosecutors from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (“AGC”) who
had been involved in Gobi (Review), and the Law Society. At the time of the

Law Society of Singapore v Ravi s/o Madasamy [2023] SGHC 65
alleged misconduct, Mr Ravi was an advocate and solicitor of 20 years’ standing

and was practising with Carson Law Chambers.
2 Following a complaint made by the DAG in respect of Mr Ravi’s various

comments, a disciplinary tribunal (the “DT”) was convened to investigate four
primary and three alternative charges which were preferred against Mr Ravi
under s 83(2) of the LPA. The DT found that three of the four primary charges
against Mr Ravi were made out, but found that no cause of sufficient gravity for
disciplinary action arose. It ordered Mr Ravi to pay a total penalty of $6,000 in
respect of those charges.
3 Dissatisfied, the Law Society filed OS 2 on 20 January 2022 pursuant to

s 94(3)(b) of the LPA, and contended that Mr Ravi’s misconduct amounted to
due cause and warranted the imposition of more serious sanctions under s 83(1)
of the LPA.
Background
4 We begin by setting out the backdrop against which Mr Ravi’s

misconduct arose, starting with the criminal proceedings and various related
events that culminated in Gobi (Review). This will help explain the kernel of Mr
Ravi’s remarks which form the subject of the present disciplinary proceedings.
Criminal proceedings involving Gobi
5 On 11 December 2014, one Gobi a/l Avedian (“Gobi”) was arrested on

suspicion of having in his possession two packets of granular substance
containing a prohibited drug. In HC/CC 13/2017 (“CC 13”), which commenced
on 31 January 2017, Gobi was charged under s 7 of the Misuse of Drugs Act
(Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed) (“MDA”), punishable by death under s 33(1) read with

the Second Schedule of the MDA, for importing the two packets of granular
substance found to contain not less than 40.22g of diamorphine, a controlled
drug under Class A of the First Schedule to the MDA (the “Drugs”). Gobi’s
defence counsel at the time was Mr Shashi Nathan.
6 At trial, the sole issue before the High Court was whether Gobi had
rebutted the presumption of knowledge under s 18(2) of the MDA (the “s 18(2)
MDA presumption”). Section 18(2) of the MDA states:
Presumption of possession and knowledge of controlled

drugs
18.— …
(2) Any person who is proved or presumed to have had a
controlled drug in his or her possession is presumed, until the
contrary is proved, to have known the nature of that drug.
7 At first instance, Gobi’s case was that he thought the Drugs were a form
of mild controlled drug mixed with chocolate, and thus that he did not know that
the Drugs were a Class A controlled drug. The Prosecution’s case was that Gobi
“knew or was wilfully blind as to the nature of the drugs” [emphasis added]: see
Public Prosecutor v Gobi a/l Avedian [2017] SGHC 145 (“Gobi (Trial)”) at [2].
At the conclusion of the trial, the High Court found Gobi’s testimony credible,
and that he had rebutted the presumption of knowledge under s 18(2) of the
MDA: see Gobi (Trial) at [53]. The High Court accordingly acquitted Gobi on
the charge that was brought but convicted him on an amended lesser charge of
attempting to import the Drugs believing it to be a controlled drug under Class
C. Gobi was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment and ten strokes of the cane
on the amended charge and acquitted of the capital charge.
8 The Prosecution appealed against Gobi’s acquittal on the capital charge

in CA/CCA 20/2017 (“CCA 20”). The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and

held that Gobi had failed to rebut the presumption of knowledge under s 18(2)
of the MDA. On 25 October 2018, it set aside Gobi’s conviction on the amended
charge and convicted Gobi of the original capital charge: see Public Prosecutor
v Gobi a/l Avedian [2019] 1 SLR 113 (“Gobi (Appeal)”).
9 Mr Ravi began acting for Gobi in September 2019. On 3 January 2020,

he filed on behalf of Gobi an application for leave to commence criminal review
proceedings against the Court of Appeal’s decision in Gobi (Appeal) pursuant
to s 394H of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap 68, 2012 Rev Ed) (the “CPC”).
The Court of Appeal granted leave for Gobi to file a review application pursuant
to s 394I of the CPC. On 25 February 2020, Gobi duly filed CA/CM 3/2020
(“CM 3”), seeking a review of Gobi (Appeal).
10 This application was premised on a separate decision of the Court of

Appeal in Adili Chibuike Ejike v Public Prosecutor [2019] 2 SLR 254 (“Adili”)
that had been released some months earlier on 27 May 2019, but some months
after the Court of Appeal rendered its decision in Gobi (Appeal). In Adili, the
accused person had appealed against the High Court’s decision convicting him
of trafficking in a capital amount of methamphetamine and sentencing him to
the mandatory death penalty. Both at first instance and on appeal, the
Prosecution relied on the presumption of possession under s 18(1) of the MDA,
which provides that:
18.—(1) Any person who is proved to have had in his possession

or custody or under his control —
(a) anything containing a controlled drug;
(b) the keys of anything containing a controlled drug;
(c) the keys of any place or premises or any part thereof
in which a controlled drug is found; or

(d) a document of title relating to a controlled drug or

any other document intended for the delivery of a
controlled drug,
shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have had
that drug in his possession.
11 The Prosecution’s case, however, was that the accused had been wilfully
blind to the existence of the drugs in question. The Court of Appeal held that
the Prosecution could not invoke the s 18(1) MDA presumption in relation to
wilful blindness because the s 18(1) presumption was a presumption of fact
while the doctrine of wilful blindness was a construct of law which described a
mental state falling short of actual knowledge but that was treated as its legal
equivalent. The Court of Appeal, however, left open the question of whether the
same was true of s 18(2) of the MDA: see Adili at [69].
Gobi’s applications for prohibitory and declaratory orders in relation to his

execution
12 Separately, Mr Ravi on 28 January 2020 filed HC/OS 111/2020

(“OS 111”) on behalf of Gobi and one Datchinamurthy a/l Kataiah
(“Datchinamurthy”). Datchinamurthy too had been sentenced to the mandatory
death sentence after being convicted of trafficking in a quantity of drugs
exceeding the threshold for the imposition of capital punishment: see Public
Prosecutor v Christeen d/o Jayamany and another [2015] SGHC 126. Gobi and
Datchinamurthy sought (amongst other orders) a prohibitory order to stay their
executions in the light of their allegations that executions were being carried out
by prison officials kicking prisoners on the back of the neck.
13 On 4 February 2020, a pre-trial conference was convened at the request

of Mr Wong Woon Kwong of the AGC (“Mr Wong”). Mr Wong sought urgent
hearing dates on account of the gravity of the allegations contained in OS 111.

In particular, Mr Wong added that he was “... instructed to state that we are
expressly reserving all our rights against Mr Ravi” (the “Reservation
Statement”). Mr Ravi sought to clarify the meaning of the Reservation
Statement during the hearing, but was directed by the Assistant Registrar to seek
clarifications from the AGC thereafter.
14 On 10 February 2020, Mr Ravi filed HC/OS 181/2020 (“OS 181”) on

behalf of Gobi and Datchinamurthy, seeking a declaration that the Reservation
Statement constituted a breach of their right to a fair hearing. OS 111 and
OS 181 were heard together on 13 February 2020 and dismissed.
Gobi (Review)
15 Returning to Gobi’s review application, CM 3 was heard by a five-Judge

panel of the Court of Appeal on 19 October 2020. Brief grounds of the Court of
Appeal’s judgment were delivered on the same day (the “Brief Grounds”),
setting out its reasons for setting aside Gobi’s conviction on the capital charge
and reinstating Gobi’s conviction on the amended charge imposed in
Gobi (Trial). At [9] of its Brief Grounds, the Court of Appeal made the
following observation:
Although we had, in Adili, expressly confined the aforesaid

holdings to the s 18(1) presumption of possession, on the face
of it, they seem likely to also apply to the s 18(2) presumption
of knowledge. In this light, we reviewed the record and observed
what seemed to us to be an inconsistency between the
Prosecution’s case at the trial and its case on appeal in respect
of the state of the Applicant’s knowledge of the nature of the
Drugs.
[emphasis added]
16 The Court of Appeal then found that the Prosecution’s case had changed
from one of wilful blindness at trial to one of actual knowledge on appeal. In

this regard, the Court of Appeal observed that “[t]his change in the
Prosecution’s case was ultimately prejudicial to [Gobi] because he was never
squarely confronted with the case that he did not in fact believe what he had
been told by [the relevant persons], and so he could not have responded to such
a case” (see the Brief Grounds at [20]). As the Prosecution’s case at trial was
premised on wilful blindness, the court held that the Prosecution was not entitled
to rely on the presumption of knowledge under s 18(2) of the MDA at all.
17 The Court of Appeal’s full written judgment in Gobi (Review) was

released after the hearing of CM 3.
Statements made by Mr Ravi in his interview with TOC Asia
18 Shortly after the delivery of the Brief Grounds on 19 October 2020,

Mr Ravi was interviewed by TOC Asia outside the Supreme Court building (the
“Interview”). When requested to comment on Gobi’s criminal proceedings, Mr
Ravi made the following remarks:
Yes, this morning, the Court of Appeal has set aside the death
sentence of Gobi Avedian, who is a Malaysian, on account of
miscarriage of justice.
This has made judicial history in Singapore, because it is for
the first time that a case, a death penalty case, which has run
its course to the Court of Appeal, after the clemency petition
has been rejected by the President on the advice of the Cabinet,
after all has been gone and when Gobi or the death penalty
inmate has been facing an execution, that this case had been
reviewed by the Court after we filed an application, and the
Court has reviewed its previous decision, the Court of Appeal.
And the Court of Appeal concluded that the previous decision
is demonstrably wrong. Demonstrably wrong on the basis that
there was another decision by the Court of Appeal that
established the principles of willful blindness, which the
previous Court of Appeal did not have the benefit. So therefore,
when I filed the application, I pointed to the Court that in view
of the latest decision, in the case of Adili, this Court of Appeal
case on the definition of willful blindness. The Court of Appeal
accepted that in view of the latest decision, in this case the

previous decision in the current case of Gobi is demonstrably

wrong, and therefore Gobi has suffered a miscarriage of justice.
…
And one of the things which is troubling in this decision today, is
that the Court noted that the Attorney-General, or the Public
Prosecutor ran a different case in the High Court and the Court
of Appeal. Then that begs the question and calls into [sic] the
fairness of the administration of justice in Gobi’s case by the
Prosecution, because the Prosecution has a duty as ministers of
justice to be fair.
As a defence counsel, I only have a role towards my client. But
the Prosecution in prosecuting people, especially for death
penalty, it is extremely important that you must be fair to both
sides, the accused, and the State. So therefore, balancing this,
the State has been overzealous in his prosecution, the Public
Prosecutor has been overzealous in his prosecution and
that has led to the death sentence of Gobi. In fact, Gobi was
acquitted originally in the High Court, then his
conviction/acquittal was overturned by the Court of Appeal
when the Prosecution appealed. Now, after this review
application, the Court of Appeal set aside its previous decision.
And what is crucial to bear in mind, is the numerous threats,
the Government of Singapore gave me in defending Gobi. I
suffered tremendous stress, to the extent that I even have to
discontinue myself in acting in one of the appeal cases, he did
in another application … I accept that you have to be careful
about applications. But what if I had not taken up this? It is
not that I am gloating over this, I could have given up anytime
because of the threat.
The Government of Singapore said in one of another application
when I was defending Gobi, that it will reserve its rights against
me personally, and in this application when we filed before the
Court of Appeal in Gobi’s case, the Prosecution submitted that
it is an abuse of process. Abuse of process means a threat of
cost order can be coming, a complaint to the Law Society is
coming, or may potentially come. All these things will affect my
licence to practice. How can I be effective for other clients as
well?
I am saying this to the State and the Prosecution and the
Minister of Law. Please apologise to Gobi, and for the suffering,
his family, and he has gone through during this process,
because the Prosecution, as the Court observed, ran a different
case in the High Court and the Court of Appeal. So therefore,
the Prosecution, essentially the fairness of the Prosecution, is
called into question by the Court itself.

…
[emphasis added in italics, bold and underline]
We refer to the statement in italics above as the “First Interview Statement”; to

the statement in bold above as the “Second Interview Statement”; and to the
underlined statement above as the “Third Interview Statement”. These three
statements are collectively referred to as the “Interview Statements.”
19 A video recording of the Interview was published on TOC Asia’s

website and Facebook page on the same day. Excerpts of the Interview were
also cited in an accompanying article titled “Court of Appeal sets aside death
sentence of Malaysian inmate, cites miscarriage of justice”.
Statements made by Mr Ravi in his Facebook posts
20 On 20 October 2020, the DAG wrote to Mr Ravi, referring to the

Interview Statements (the “DAG’s Letter”). The DAG informed Mr Ravi that
the Interview Statements contained serious allegations that the Public
Prosecutor had acted in bad faith or maliciously in the prosecution of Gobi, and
alleged that Mr Ravi was aware that such allegations were false and
inflammatory. The DAG also sought an apology and retraction of the Interview
Statements by Mr Ravi.
21 Later that day, Mr Ravi uploaded the DAG’s Letter in a Facebook post
(the “First Facebook Post”). The material parts of the First Facebook Post are
as follows:
[The DAG] has written to me a letter today asking me to

apologise and retract certain comments I made yesterday
outside the Supreme Court on the miscarriage of justice in
Gobi’s case … I am entitled to my criticisms of the unfairness
associated to the miscarriage of justice …

[The DAG] threatens to complaint [sic] – where else: The Law

Society of Singapore. This is a bold threat by the [DAG]. [The
DAG] owes an apology to me for sending this letter as this
tantamounts [sic] to humiliating Gobi and his family by
insulting them further to threaten their counsel to apologise
when these government lawyers who handled Gobi’s case are
the wrongdoers. The public should demand the AG to retract
this letter and apologise.
I have already taken instructions from Gobi and his family
to commence proceedings against [the AG], [the DAG] and
Mr Faizal SC in court. I will file the writ of summons in the
next few days for both personally against all 3 of the above
Government lawyers and also against their offices in which
they hold public appointment. They have to be accountable
to Gobi and his family in court and be subject to rigorous
cross examination and public scrutiny of their conduct of
Gobi’s case. I believe the AG and his government legal officers
will instruct some big firms…
I will respond to [the DAG’s] threatening and humiliating letter
accordingly. I will also commence proceedings against law
society [sic] if it does not do its part to protect lawyers and the
independence of the profession if it entertains any further
complaints or participates in any harassment by the AG to
harass me in doing my job.
…
[emphasis added in italics, bold and underline]
We refer to the statement in italics above as the “First Facebook Statement”; to

the statement in bold above as the “Second Facebook Statement”; and to the
underlined statement above as the “Third Facebook Statement”. These
statements are collectively referred to as the “Facebook Statements”.
22 On 22 October 2020, Mr Ravi replied to the DAG’s Letter (the “Reply

Letter”). In the Reply Letter, Mr Ravi acknowledged that he had made the
Interview Statements but rejected the allegation in the DAG’s Letter that the
statements had been made with the knowledge that they were false, or that any
obligations under the LPA and the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct)
Rules 2015 (S 706/2015) (the “PCR”) had been breached when he made those
10

statements. He maintained that there was sufficient basis, “both objective and
subjective”, for the statements to be made. Accordingly, Mr Ravi took the
position that the AGC’s requests for a public apology and retraction of the
relevant statements were “not only plainly without basis, but also insulting
given the fact that [the AGC had] treated Gobi’s life with such a blatant
disregard, whom [Mr Ravi] was trying to save at the eleventh hour and which
he eventually succeeded”. He concluded the Reply Letter by stating that
“[r]egardless of the Prosecution’s apology…, we have firm instructions from
Gobi and his family to commence legal action and enforce his rights against [the
AG, the DAG], and members of the Prosecution who had carriage of this matter
in Gobi (Appeal) and Gobi (Review)”.
23 Mr Ravi uploaded the Reply Letter in a Facebook post on the same day.
In that post (the “Second Facebook Post”), he reiterated that he had been
instructed to commence legal action (as set out in the foregoing paragraph).
24 On 4 November 2020, Mr Ravi commenced HC/S 1068/2020 (“Suit

1068”) on behalf of Gobi against the AG, the DAG, and the prosecutors who
had carriage of the Gobi proceedings (collectively referred to as the “AG et al”).
It was alleged that the AG et al had committed the tort of misfeasance in public
office and were in breach of their statutory duty under the PCR. The AG et al
successfully applied to strike out the Statement of Claim in Suit 1068 and the
action was dismissed by the High Court.
Proceedings before the DT
25 On 23 October 2020 (one day after the Second Facebook Post was
published), the DAG referred a complaint against Mr Ravi to the Law Society
pursuant to s 85(3)(b) of the LPA (the “Complaint”). The Complaint was made
11

in relation to the Interview Statements, the First Facebook Post and the Second
Facebook Post, and requested that the Law Society refer the matter to a
disciplinary tribunal. Following the Complaint, the Council of the Law Society
applied to the Chief Justice to appoint a disciplinary tribunal. The DT was
constituted to investigate the Complaint on 25 March 2021.
26 The Law Society preferred four primary and three alternative charges
against Mr Ravi (collectively, the “Charges”). The first charge concerned Mr
Ravi’s First to Third Interview Statements, and read as follows (the “First
Charge”):
1ST CHARGE
You, Ravi s/o Madasamy, an Advocate and Solicitor of the
Supreme Court of Singapore, did on 19 October 2020 attend a
live interview with Online Citizen Asia in which you made, inter
alia, the following statements in relation to the Court of Appeal’s
decision in [Gobi (Review)]:
“… the Public Prosecutor has been overzealous in his
prosecution and that has led to the death sentence...”
“And one of the things which is troubling in this decision
today, is that the Court noted that the Attorney General,
or the Public Prosecutor ran a different case in the High
Court and the Court of Appeal. Then that begs the
questions and calls into the fairness of the administration
of justice in Gobi’s case by the Prosecution…”
“… because the Prosecution as the Court observed, ran a
different case in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
So therefore, the Prosecution, essentially the fairness of
the Prosecution, is called into question by the Court
itself.”
which are false and/or misleading allegations intended to
convey to listeners of the interview and/or readers of [TOC Asia]
that the Public Prosecutor and/or [the AG] had acted in bad
faith, maliciously and/or improperly, so as to discredit [the
AGC] and/or its legal officers in the eyes of the public, and you
have thereby committed an act amounting to misconduct
unbefitting an advocate and solicitor as an officer of the
Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable profession
under Section 83(2)(h) of the Legal Profession Act (Cap 161).
12

[emphasis in original]
27 The second charge and second alternative charge pertained to Mr Ravi’s

First and Second Facebook Statements (the “Second Charge” and “Second
Alternative Charge” respectively):
2ND CHARGE
Supreme Court of Singapore, did on 20 October 2020 make and
post on your Facebook page the following statements:
“… when these government lawyers who handled the
Gobi’s case are the wrongdoers.”
“I have already taken instructions from Gobi and his
family to commence proceedings against [the AG], [the
DAG], Mr Faizal SC in court. I will file the writ of summons
in the next few days for both personally against all 3 of
the above Government lawyers and also against their
offices in which they hold public appointment. They have
to be accountable to Gobi and his family in court and be
subject to rigorous cross-examination and public scrutiny
of their conduct of Gobi’s case…”
which statements contain a baseless accusation of misconduct
and/or a threat to commence legal proceedings against your
fellow legal practitioners, and you are thereby guilty of improper
conduct within the meaning of section 83(2)(b)(i) of the Legal
Profession Act (Cap 161) read together with Rule 7(2) of the
Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules.
ALTERNATIVE 2ND CHARGE

post on your Facebook page the following statements:
“… when these government lawyers who handled the
Gobi’s case are the wrongdoers.”
“I have already taken instructions from Gobi and his
family to commence proceedings against [the AG], [the
DAG], Mr Faizal SC in court. I will file the writ of summons
in the next few days for both personally against all 3 of
the above Government lawyers and also against their
offices in which they hold public appointment. They have
13

to be accountable to Gobi and his family in court and be

subject to rigorous cross-examination and public scrutiny
of their conduct of Gobi’s case…”
which statements contain a baseless accusation of misconduct
and/or a threat to commence legal proceedings against your
fellow legal practitioners, and you have thereby committed an
act amounting to misconduct unbefitting an advocate and
solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as a member of
an honourable profession under Section 83(2)(h) of the Legal
Profession Act (Cap 161).
28 The third charge and third alternative charge concerned Mr Ravi’s Third
Facebook Statement, which was directed at the Law Society (the “Third
Charge” and “Third Alternative Charge” respectively):
3RD CHARGE
post on your Facebook page the following statement:
“I will also commence proceedings against law society if
it does not do its part to protect lawyers and their
complaints or partcipates [sic] in any harassment by [the
AG] to harass me in doing my job.”
which statement contains a threat to commence legal
proceedings against the Law Society and/or a baseless
insinuation that the Law Society misuses its statutory powers,
and you are thereby guilty of improper conduct within the
meaning of section 83(2)(b)(i) of the Legal Profession Act (Cap
161) read together with Rule 8(3)(b) of the Legal Profession
(Professional Conduct) Rules.
ALTERNATIVE 3RD CHARGE

post on your Facebook page the following statement:
“I will also commence proceedings against law society if
it does not do its part to protect lawyers and their
14

complaints or partcipates [sic] in any harassment by AG

to harass me in doing my job.”
which statement contains a threat to commence legal
proceedings against the Law Society and/or a baseless
insinuation that the Law Society misuses its statutory powers,
and you have thereby committed an act amounting to
misconduct unbefitting an advocate and solicitor as an officer
of the Supreme Court or as a member of an honourable
profession under Section 83(2)(h) of the Legal Profession Act
(Cap 161).
29 The fourth charge and fourth alternative charge related to Mr Ravi’s

Reply Letter (the “Fourth Charge” and “Fourth Alternative Charge”
respectively):
4TH CHARGE
Supreme Court of Singapore, did on 22 October 2020 send a
letter to the Attorney General Chambers threatening to
commence legal proceedings against [the AG], [the DAG], and
members of the prosecution who had carriage of the matter in
CA/CCA 20/2017 and CA/CM 3 of 2020, and you are thereby
guilty of improper conduct within the meaning of section
83(2)(b)(i) of the Legal Profession Act (Cap 161) read together
with Rule 7(2) of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct)
Rules.
ALTERNATIVE 4TH CHARGE

Supreme Court of Singapore, did on 22 October 2020 send a
letter to the Attorney General Chambers threatening to
commence legal proceedings against [the AG], [the DAG], and
members of the prosecution who had carriage of the matter in
CA/CCA 20/2017 and CA/CM 3 of 2020, and you have thereby
committed an act amounting to misconduct unbefitting an
advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court or as
a member of an honourable profession under Section 83(2)(h)
of the Legal Profession Act (Cap 161).
15

The DT’s decision
30 Following the hearing before the DT, which took place from 28 to 29
July 2021, the DT released its findings in its report dated 20 December 2021
(the “DT Report”).
31 In relation to the First Charge, the DT considered that the key issue was
whether the Interview Statements constituted fair criticism. This was Mr Ravi’s
sole defence to the First Charge before the DT. In the DT’s determination,
whether the Interview Statements constituted fair criticism depended in turn on
whether Mr Ravi had “any rational basis” for making these statements. The DT
found it relevant to consider the factors set out in Attorney-General v Tan Liang
Joo John and others [2009] 2 SLR(R) 1132 at [15]–[23] (and affirmed by the
Court of Appeal in Shadrake Alan v Attorney-General [2011] 3 SLR 778) in the
context of the law of contempt of court. Applying these factors, the DT found
that Mr Ravi had a rational basis for making all three Interview Statements and
that the First Charge was not made out.
32 In relation to the Second Charge, the DT found that Mr Ravi had failed
to treat the AG et al with courtesy and fairness in breach of s 83(2)(b)(i) of the
LPA read with r 7(2) of the PCR, by publicly communicating his intention to
commence an action against them in the First Facebook Post. In this regard, the
DT accepted Mr Ravi’s explanation that the use of the word “wrongdoers”
referred to those responsible for the commission of a civil rather than a criminal
wrong, and that the Second Facebook Statement was not a threat made by
Mr Ravi to commence legal proceedings. The DT found, however, that it was
not proper of Mr Ravi to have made allegations of misconduct without referring
the matter to the appropriate body.
16

33 For the Third Charge, the DT found that Mr Ravi, by making the Third
Facebook Statement, had acted in a manner contrary to a legal practitioner’s
position as a member of an honourable profession pursuant to s 83(2)(h) of the
LPA read with r 8(3)(b) of the PCR. In the DT’s view, the Third Facebook
Statement constituted a threat against the Law Society and an accusation that it
was complicit in alleged “harassment” by the AG. The fact that Mr Ravi had
made the statement in a public forum also compounded the severity of his
misconduct.
34 In relation to the Fourth Charge, the DT relied on its reasoning with

respect to the Second Charge to find that Mr Ravi had similarly breached
s 83(2)(b)(i) of the LPA read with r 7(2) of the PCR.
35 In the round, however, the DT determined that there was no cause of

sufficient gravity disclosed by Mr Ravi’s misconduct, as the misconduct in
question did not “involve dishonesty ... trustworthiness or moral turpitude, or a
conviction for a criminal offence”. It ordered that Mr Ravi pay a monetary
penalty, pursuant to s 93(1)(b)(i) of the LPA, comprising the following sums:
(a) For the Second and Fourth Charges, a collective penalty of

$4,000.
(b) For the Third Charge, a penalty of $2,000.
The Attorney-General’s application to review the DT’s findings on the First

Charge
36 Dissatisfied with this result, the Attorney-General proceeded to file

HC/OS 41/2022 (“OS 41”) on 18 January 2022. OS 41 was an application to
review the DT’s findings in relation to the First Charge pursuant to s 97(1) of
the LPA.
17

37 OS 41 was heard on 5 and 12 May 2022 before a judge of the General

Division of the High Court (the “Judge”), who dismissed OS 41 and found that
the Interview Statements did not necessarily imply that the Prosecution had
acted with malice, in bad faith or improperly: see Attorney-General v Ravi s/o
Madasamy and another [2022] SGHC 180 (“AG v Ravi”). In particular, the
Judge was of the view that (see AG v Ravi at [31]):
… The statements were supported by a rational basis – that the

Prosecution’s advancement of a different case on appeal in [Gobi
(Appeal)], premised on actual knowledge of the drugs instead of
wilful blindness as put forward at trial in [Gobi (Trial)], did cause
prejudice to Gobi. This was specifically highlighted by the Court
of Appeal in both its Oral Judgment and subsequent written
grounds in the Review Judgment.
38 Two days after OS 41 was filed, the Law Society filed the present
application on 20 January 2022 for Mr Ravi to be dealt with pursuant to s 83(1)
of the LPA.
39 With this background in mind, we turn to consider the parties’ cases in

OS 2.
The parties’ cases
The Law Society’s case
40 The Law Society agrees with the DT’s determination that the Second to
Fourth Charges are made out, and raises no issue in relation to the First Charge
given the decision in AG v Ravi. However, it disagrees with the DT’s
determination under s 93(1)(b) of the LPA that no cause of sufficient gravity for
disciplinary action exists under s 83 of the LPA. It argues that Mr Ravi’s
18

misconduct is sufficiently serious to warrant the imposition of sanctions under

s 83(1) of the LPA, and makes three main submissions:
(a) First, the Law Society contends that the DT erred in relation to
the applicable test for whether a cause of sufficient gravity arose. It
submits that the applicable test is whether the impugned conduct is
sufficiently serious and this is not confined to conduct that fell within
the categories of “dishonesty ... trustworthiness or moral turpitude, or a
conviction for a criminal offence”.
(b) Second, the DT failed to give adequate weight to the implications

of Mr Ravi’s conduct. In particular, the DT overlooked the fact that
the AG and the Law Society, being the subject of Mr Ravi’s various
statements, were important legal institutions. It was also highlighted that
despite being a senior member of the Bar, Mr Ravi had expressed these
statements in a public manner (where he had a significant online
following) and adopted a scornful tone in so doing.
(c) Third, the DT failed to consider the “blatant and wilful” manner
in which Mr Ravi breached the PCR. In this regard, the Law Society
contends that Mr Ravi had voiced his objections publicly in order to
drum up public pressure against the AGC and the Law Society.
41 In relation to the appropriate sanction, the Law Society submits that the
penalties ordered by the DT are inadequate. It highlights, amongst other things,
Mr Ravi’s disciplinary antecedents and his lack of remorse, and seeks an order
that Mr Ravi be suspended from practice pursuant to s 83(1)(b) of the LPA. As
for the duration of the suspension, counsel for the Law Society, Ms Lin Weiqi
Wendy (“Ms Lin”) initially took the position that a suspension of three months
was appropriate. Her final position, when given the opportunity to address this
19

court in reply (after Mr Ravi had made his oral submissions), however, was that
a suspension that exceeded 15 months should be imposed instead.
Mr Ravi’s case
42 Mr Ravi was initially represented in these proceedings by Eugene

Thuraisingam LLP. Written and skeletal submissions were filed on his behalf
on 15 September 2022 and 17 October 2022 respectively (collectively referred
to as the “Written Submissions”).
43 In the Written Submissions, Mr Ravi indicated his agreement with

the DT’s determination in its entirety. Mr Ravi’s Written Submissions in
relation to the seriousness of the misconduct under the Second to Fourth
Charges may be summarised as follows:
(a) He had referred to the “government lawyers” as “wrongdoers”

in the sense of their having committed a “civil wrong”. This did not
amount to serious misconduct.
(b) He felt threatened by the Reservation Statement and, in making

the First and Third Facebook Statement, had reacted under pressure
rather than out of “calculation or artifice”.
44 On the appropriate sanction, Mr Ravi argued in his Written Submissions

that the monetary penalty issued by the DT is in line with precedents concerning
allegations against important legal institutions made in a public forum. He
further argued that his previous disciplinary antecedents should not be accorded
great weight where those antecedents involved his suffering from bipolar
disorder. Mr Ravi also highlighted his remorse and pro bono contributions in
mitigation.
20

45 On 20 October 2022, Mr Ravi filed a notice of intention to act in person

in place of his solicitors, and subsequently represented himself at the hearing of
this matter before us on 9 November 2022. In his oral submissions, Mr Ravi
accepted that he had made the allegations contained in the Interview Statements
and Facebook Statements, but raised the following arguments:
(a) First, his conduct had to be viewed in light of the “seriousness of

the miscarriage of justice” that Gobi faced.
(b) Second, his conduct had to be seen in the context of “cause

lawyering”. This also explained why Mr Ravi had made the impugned
statements in public, as “it should not be a private matter when … a
miscarriage of justice has taken place”.
(c) Third, Mr Ravi viewed himself as a person under disability, and

that the court should therefore consider his rights under the United
Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“CRPD”).
He emphasised, in this regard, that he had been operating under
tremendous stress at the time and had made the review application
“despite the threats” by the AG in the Reservation Statement.
(d) Fourth, his misconduct had to be assessed against the unfairness

with which the AG had allegedly conducted its case throughout the Gobi
proceedings. He alleged that it was dishonest of the AG to have
continued to resist the review proceedings despite the court having
raised the issue of the Prosecution’s change of case in the course of those
proceedings.
46 Further, we observe that Mr Ravi adopted a far more combative stance

during his oral submissions, which belied the remorse he claimed to have in his
21

Written Submissions. In fact, Mr Ravi went further by suggesting at various

junctures impropriety on the part of the court in the conduct of the Gobi
proceedings, an allegation that hitherto had not been raised in the Interview, the
Facebook Posts or in the course of the disciplinary proceedings:
Menon CJ: Well, the question really is whether you conduct

yourself in the manner of an honourable
profession. That’s the question that we are
[dealing with].
[Mr Ravi]: That---that---that history and the society will
judge, Your Honour, and you can judge whatever
way you want to. I---I---may I move on Your
Honour? And it is not easy for me to tell that you
are---that the judiciary has made a serious
mistake for---for---on Gobi’s case because you
didn’t exercise on your own motion when there
was a departure. And I’m just highlighting how
serious it is that that man’s [sic] had been lost if
I had listened to Law Society’s advice to keep
quiet, Your Honour, and---and make big bucks
on cases and then move on.
[emphasis added]
47 In a similar vein, Mr Ravi took the opportunity to voice his displeasure

regarding the legislative mechanism for complaints made by the AG to the Law
Society. In this regard, Mr Ravi highlighted s 85(3)(b) of the LPA, which
provides that, upon the AG’s request, the Law Society must apply to the Chief
Justice to appoint a disciplinary tribunal. He argued that because s 85(3)(b) of
the LPA gives the AG a “pre-emptive power”, legal practitioners at all times
had a “sword of Damocles” hanging over their heads which undermined the
administration of justice.
Issues
48 The issues that arise for our determination are as follows:
22

(a) whether due cause has been shown for Mr Ravi to be subject to
the sanctions in s 83(1) of the LPA; and
(b) if so, what the appropriate sanction ought to be.
Whether due cause has been shown
The applicable law
49 Section 83(1) of the LPA provides that all advocates and solicitors shall
be “liable on due cause shown” to be subject to the various penalties enumerated
in ss 83(1)(a)–83(1)(e). This includes censure, a monetary penalty, suspension,
and the ultimate punishment of striking the errant solicitor off the roll. In turn,
the sub-provisions relied upon in the First to Fourth Charges, namely ss 83(2)(b)
and 83(2)(h) of the LPA, provide as follows:
Power to strike off roll, etc.

83.— …
(2) … [S]uch due cause may be shown by proof that an advocate
and solicitor —
…
(b) has been guilty of has been guilty of fraudulent or
grossly improper conduct in the discharge of his or her
professional duty or guilty of such a breach of any of the
following as amounts to improper conduct or practice as
an advocate and solicitor:
(i) any usage or rule of conduct made by the
Professional Conduct Council under section 71
or by the Council under the provisions of this Act
[such as the PCR];…
…
(h) has been guilty of such misconduct unbefitting an
advocate and solicitor as an officer of the Supreme Court
or as a member of an honourable profession;
…
23

50 Neither the Law Society nor Mr Ravi disputes the DT’s findings that the
Second to Fourth Charges were made out. It is also undisputed that Mr Ravi’s
conduct in relation to the Second to Fourth Charges constitutes improper
conduct within s 83(2)(b)(i) of the LPA for breaching rr 7(2) and 8(3)(b) of
the PCR. A determination that the advocate and solicitor’s conduct falls within
one of the limbs of s 83(2) is, however, a “necessary – but not sufficient –
condition” [emphasis in original] in determining whether due cause has arisen
(Law Society of Singapore v Jasmine Gowriwamni d/o Daniel [2010] 3 SLR
390 (“Jasmine Gowriwamni”) at [35]); and it is here that the parties join issue.
Therefore, the central inquiry here is whether, on the “totality of the facts and
circumstances of the case”, Mr Ravi’s misconduct is “sufficiently serious to
warrant the imposition of sanctions under s 83(1) of the LPA” [emphasis in
original] (see Law Society of Singapore v Udeh Kumar s/o Sethuraju and
another matter [2017] 4 SLR 1369 (“Udeh Kumar”) at [30]).
51 We first consider the Law Society’s argument that the DT had erred in
the test it applied in determining whether a cause of sufficient gravity arose. In
our judgment, there was no real divergence between the standard applied by the
DT and that set out in the preceding paragraph. It is apparent from the DT Report
that the DT was cognisant of its role as a “sieve” to ensure that only the most
serious complaints are referred to the Court of Three Judges, having cited at
para 169 of the DT Report the observations of this court to similar effect in
Jasmine Gowrimani at [24] (see also Jasmine Gowrimani at [28]). Therefore,
when the DT had found that no cause of sufficient gravity arose as Mr Ravi’s
conduct did not reflect “dishonesty ... trustworthiness or moral turpitude, or a
conviction for a criminal offence”, it appeared to be listing non-exhaustive
categories of misconduct that ultimately fell within its broader assessment of
24

seriousness. On that score, it was satisfied in the circumstances that Mr Ravi’s

conduct did not rise to that degree.
52 The heart of the dispute, in our view, was not as to the applicable legal
test, but the proper characterisation of the misconduct at hand. The essential
question, put another way, concerns what the gravamen of Mr Ravi’s
misconduct was. In this connection, we consider it helpful to revisit the DT’s
analysis in respect of the First Charge. While the First Charge is, strictly
speaking, not in issue before this court, a detailed examination of the DT’s
findings on that point not only sheds light on why the DT saw fit to dismiss the
First Charge, but also provides a valuable perspective on how the DT viewed
Mr Ravi’s misconduct as a whole in arriving at its determination that no cause
of sufficient gravity arose.
The First Charge
53 To recapitulate, the First Charge concerned whether Mr Ravi had acted

in a manner unbefitting an advocate and solicitor under s 83(2)(h) of the LPA
by advancing false and/or misleading allegations in the First to Third Interview
Statements which intended to convey that the Public Prosecutor and/or the AG
had acted in bad faith, maliciously and/or improperly. These statements are set
out in full at [18] above and we reproduce them below for reference:
(a) The First Interview Statement: “… one of the things which is

troubling in this decision today, is that the Court noted that the Attorney-
General, or the Public Prosecutor ran a different case in the High Court
and the Court of Appeal. Then that begs the question and calls into the
fairness of the administration of justice in Gobi’s case by the
Prosecution, because the Prosecution has a duty as ministers of justice
to be fair.”
25

(b) The Second Interview Statement: “… the Public Prosecutor

has been overzealous in his prosecution and that has led to the death
sentence of Gobi …”.
(c) The Third Interview Statement: “Please apologise to Gobi,

and for the suffering, his family, and he has gone through during this
process, because the Prosecution, as the Court observed, ran a different
case in the High Court and the Court of Appeal. So therefore, the
Prosecution, essentially the fairness of the Prosecution, is called into
question by the Court itself.”
54 As explained at [31] above, the DT took the view that whether the First
Charge was made out turned on whether Mr Ravi had “any rational basis” for
making each of the three statements. In relation to the Second Interview
Statement, the DT considered that the question was whether Mr Ravi had a
rational basis for describing the Prosecution’s conduct of the Gobi proceedings
as “overzealous”. It therefore began its analysis on the Second Interview
Statement by considering the conduct of the Prosecution in Gobi (Trial) and
Gobi (Appeal). The DT then turned to Gobi (Review), where it noted that the
Court of Appeal had found “a change in the Prosecution’s case in [CCA 20]
because ... the Prosecution’s case in [CCA 20] before the Court of Appeal was
one of actual knowledge, and that such change in the case it ran in [CCA 20]
prejudiced Gobi”. Upon consideration of the Prosecution’s fundamental duty to
assist in the administration of justice, the DT concluded that the Second
Interview Statement was not devoid of rational basis.
55 Turning to the First Interview Statement, the DT found that there was a
rational basis for Mr Ravi to have used the term “troubling” and that the Court
of Appeal’s observation that the Prosecution had run different cases “call[ed]
26

into question the fairness of the administration of justice in Gobi’s case by the
Prosecution”. This was because, in the DT’s view, “even the Court of Appeal
itself before the review hearing was troubled over this issue”, having directed
further submissions on this point.
56 Finally, with respect to the Third Interview Statement, the DT found that
there was a rational basis for Mr Ravi to articulate the view that “the fairness of
the Prosecution [was] called into question by the Court”. This was for the sole
reason that the Court of Appeal had in Gobi (Review) noted that “the
Prosecution’s change in the case that it ran on appeal, as compared to the case
that it ran at the trial, prejudiced [Gobi]”. It was for these reasons that the DT
concluded that the First Charge was not made out.
57 While the DT’s findings in respect of the First Charge are not directly in
issue in these proceedings, we express our views in relation to these findings as
they have a bearing on our analysis of Mr Ravi’s misconduct that forms the
subject of the Second to Fourth Charges. To state our views at the outset, we do
not agree with the DT’s interpretation or analysis of the First to Third Interview
Statements. We make three observations in this regard.
58 First, and with respect, the DT did not appear to consider the full ambit
of the Court of Appeal’s observations in the Brief Grounds in its analysis of
whether Mr Ravi had a rational basis to make the Interview Statements. We
highlight the Brief Grounds because, according to Mr Ravi, he had given the
TOC Interview immediately after the delivery of the Brief Grounds, but before
he had obtained the full written judgment in Gobi (Review). His Interview
Statements, therefore, had to be seen in light of the entirety of the Court of
Appeal’s observations in the Brief Grounds. As is apparent from our brief
summary of the DT’s findings in the foregoing paragraphs, however, the DT
27

focussed its assessment on the Court of Appeal’s finding that the Prosecution
had run a different case at trial and on appeal, and that this had caused prejudice
to Gobi. As such, the DT observed that:
111. The Court of Appeal in [Gobi (Review)] noted that there

was a change in the Prosecution’s case in the Appeal
because it is undisputed that the Prosecution’s case in
the earlier Appeal before the Court of Appeal was one of
actual knowledge, and that such change in the case it
ran in the earlier Appeal prejudiced Gobi …
…
112. In [Gobi (Review)], the Court of Appeal also took the
opportunity to further emphasise the importance of the
Prosecution running a consistent case so as to give the
accused a fair chance of knowing the case that is
advanced against him and what evidence he has to
adduce (and what standard of proof) in order to meet
that case, and that the Prosecution is not permitted to
seek a conviction on a factual premise which it has
never advanced, and which it has in fact denied in its
case against the accused person (see [Gobi (Review)] at
[119])
…
115. It cannot be gainsaid that where the offence(s) for which
the accused person is charged carries the death penalty
and what may be expressed as the near-irretrievable
finality of punishment, as in the case of the criminal
proceedings against Gobi, it is even more imperative and
essential that the Prosecution strictly and scrupulously
observes it role, functions and duties …
116. Having regard to the above findings and observations
made by the Court of Appeal in [Gobi (Review) and the
Brief Grounds], as well as the Court’s exposition on the
role and duty of the Prosecution in criminal
proceedings, we are of the view that it cannot be said
that the First Statement is devoid of any reasonable,
rational or objective basis.
59 What was absent from the DT’s analysis, however, was any reference to
the Court of Appeal’s express qualification in the Brief Grounds that the
Prosecution could not have anticipated or perceived that it had impermissibly
28

changed its case at the time due to the extant understanding of the law. This, in
turn, requires a more granular examination of the procedural history of the Gobi
proceedings, the relevant episodes of which we summarise below:
(a) On 28 June 2017, the High Court found that Gobi had rebutted
the presumption under s 18(2) of the MDA that he knew that the granular
substance in his possession was diamorphine. Gobi was convicted on an
amended lesser charge of attempting to import diamorphine, believing
it to be a controlled drug under Class C of the First Schedule to the
MDA. In the course of trial, the trial judge sought clarification from the
Prosecution on whether its case was that Gobi “should not have
believed” the representations of the persons passing him the drugs
(“Vinod” and “Jega”) or that he “did not believe” these persons. The
Prosecution confirmed that its case was the former.
(b) On 25 October 2018, the Court of Appeal in Gobi (Appeal) held

that Gobi had failed to rebut the s 18(2) MDA presumption and
convicted Gobi of the capital charge. In the Prosecution’s written
submissions, it had taken the position that Gobi did not in fact believe
Vinod and Jega.
(c) On 27 May 2019, the Court of Appeal released its judgment in

Adili. It clarified an important point of law for the first time, which was
that the doctrine of wilful blindness had no relevance in the analysis of
whether the presumption under s 18(1) of the MDA had been rebutted
(see Adili at [71]). Notably, it confined this finding strictly to the issue
of knowing possession under s 18(1) of the MDA (see Adili at [42]), and
left open the question of whether the same applied to s 18(2) of the MDA
(see Adili at [69]).
29

(d) On 25 February 2020, Mr Ravi filed CM 3, seeking a review of

Gobi (Appeal) in light of Adili. In his written submissions filed on behalf
of Gobi on the same day, Mr Ravi argued, amongst other things, that the
Court of Appeal had erred in Gobi (Appeal) to the extent that it had
premised the conviction of Gobi on wilful blindness. This argument was
erroneous and seems to have been based on Mr Ravi’s view that the
Court of Appeal in Adili had held that the doctrine of wilful blindness
had no application to s 18(2) of the MDA. In fact, as we had noted in the
preceding sub-paragraph, the Court of Appeal in Adili had explicitly left
open the question of whether and how Adili might affect the s 18(2)
MDA presumption.
(e) On 20 April 2020, the Supreme Court Registry sent a letter to the
respective parties in Gobi (Review), conveying the Court of Appeal’s
direction to the parties to file further written submissions (the “Registry
Letter”). The Court of Appeal highlighted that contrary to Mr Ravi’s
submissions, it had not in Adili settled the question of the interface
between the doctrine of wilful blindness and s 18(2) of the MDA (see
Gobi (Review) at [36] where the Court of Appeal clarified the same). As
such, it directed parties to file further submissions on this issue. It also
sought further submissions as to whether the Prosecution had run a
different case in Gobi (Trial) and Gobi (Appeal) in relation to Gobi’s
knowledge of the nature of the drugs, and if so whether such a change
was permissible.
(f) In its further submissions dated 1 June 2020, the Prosecution

maintained that its cases at trial and on appeal were both premised on
Gobi’s actual knowledge of the nature of the drugs.
30

(g) As for Mr Ravi, as we note below at [138], in his submissions

filed on the same day, Mr Ravi maintained that there was no prejudice
to Gobi occasioned by the change of case.
(h) On 19 October 2020, the Court of Appeal set aside Gobi’s

conviction on the capital charge and reinstated Gobi’s conviction on the
amended charge in Gobi (Trial). It held for the first time that its holdings
in Adili extended also to the s 18(2) MDA presumption. The Court of
Appeal concluded that the Prosecution’s case in the High Court trial had
in fact been run on the basis of wilful blindness but that it had run its
case on appeal on the premise that Gobi actually knew of the nature of
the drugs. Notably, the Court of Appeal highlighted at [9] of the Brief
Grounds that “[t]his issue was not raised by [Gobi] in [CCA 20] or in
the initial submissions [in CM 3]” [emphasis added], but instead that it
was raised for the first time on the Court of Appeal’s own motion in the
Registry Letter.
60 It is pertinent to reiterate here that Adili was released after the conclusion
of the proceedings in Gobi (Appeal). The clarification in Adili regarding the
distinction between the legal concept of wilful blindness and the factual nature
of the evidential presumption in s 18(1) of the MDA, therefore, had not yet
found expression in our case law at the time. In this regard, and critically for
present purposes, the Court of Appeal observed at [19] of the Brief Grounds
that:
In fairness to the parties, at the time of the trial, they did not
have the benefit of the guidance subsequently set out in
Adili. The DPP might thus have formulated the Prosecution’s
case on the premise that actual knowledge and wilful blindness
were not distinct concepts, and that the doctrine of wilful
blindness was relevant in considering whether the s 18(2)
presumption had been rebutted. We have now held that this
is incorrect in law …
31

[emphasis added in italics and bold italics]
61 Crucially, the Court of Appeal in its Brief Grounds went further to

explain how the confluence of certain material circumstances had led to its
determination to set aside its earlier decision in Gobi (Appeal) (see the Brief
Grounds at [23] and [24]; Gobi (Review) at [125] and [126]):
23 In the circumstances, we set aside [Gobi’s] conviction on

the capital charge. We highlight the coming together of three
circumstances that have led to this outcome:
(a) the nature of the case that was run by the
Prosecution at the trial;
(b) the different case that the Prosecution ran on
appeal, a difference that has to be said was
not pointed out by the Defence in the course
of the appeal and that was likely not thought
to be material by either the Prosecution or
the Defence at the time, given the prevailing
legal position at that time; and
(c) the change in the legal position in respect of the
doctrine of wilful blindness that was effected
by this court in Adili after [Gobi (Appeal)] was
decided, and that we have, in this criminal
motion, decided should apply to the
interplay between the s 18(2) presumption
and the doctrine of wilful blindness and,
specifically, the question of the Applicant’s
knowledge of the nature of the Drugs.
24 It is likely that if any of these three circumstances had
been absent, the outcome in this criminal motion might well
have been different. That the legal position may change from
time to time, including as a result of case law development, is
not controversial. It is generally the case that the correctness of
a decision is determined by reference only to the legal position
as it stood at the time of the decision. It is a reflection of the
robustness of our legal framework that the court may in limited
circumstances take into account subsequent changes in the legal
position to reassess previously made decisions, even if they
were correct at the time they were made. That is precisely
what has happened in this exceptional case.
32

62 In our judgment, these parts of the Brief Grounds are essential to

understanding the manner in which the Prosecution had conducted its case in
the Gobi proceedings. This was not, as the DT deemed it, a case of the
Prosecution failing to “strictly and scrupulously [observe] its role, functions and
duties”. Conversely, the Court of Appeal had – more than once – clarified that
the Prosecution had evidently acted in accordance with the state of the law at
the time. Put in the context of the present inquiry, therefore, a proper
appreciation of the exceptional circumstances that led to the Court of Appeal’s
finding that the Prosecution’s change of case was prejudicial to Gobi was just
as important as the finding itself. It is also important to correctly understand the
Court of Appeal’s finding that Gobi had been “prejudiced”. This inquiry was
directed at whether the Prosecution’s change of case could be material to the
outcome of the case: see Gobi (Review) at [117]–[120]. This was a necessary
part of the inquiry because the review power can only be exercised where it is
shown not only that the relevant ground (such as new material or a change of
the law) is made out, but that this could have a material bearing on the outcome
of the case. It was upon these premises that the DT’s search for a rational basis
should have begun. Placing a narrow focus on the Court of Appeal’s finding
that the Prosecution’s change of case had caused prejudice to Gobi, without due
regard for the full ambit of the Court of Appeal’s observations in their proper
context, puts one in jeopardy of missing the forest for the trees. This would, at
the same time, facilitate an unduly innocuous view of Mr Ravi’s Interview
Statements (which the DT appears to us to have taken).
63 Second, when the First to Third Interview Statements are set against this
understanding of the Prosecution’s conduct in the Gobi proceedings, it is our
view that there was no rational basis for Mr Ravi to have made them. We
33

consider each of the Interview Statements in turn, beginning with the Second
Interview Statement.
64 The Second Interview Statement contained the allegation that the Public
Prosecutor was “overzealous in his prosecution and that has led to the death
sentence of Gobi”. Preliminarily, we address the DT’s determination that the
word “overzealous” “did not inherently carry or imply any negative or offensive
connotation”. With respect, we cannot see how this could be. The prefix “over”,
especially when applied to the word “zealous” which in itself connotes a sense
of an energetic and enthusiastic pursuit of a cause or objective, plainly suggests
an excessive, perhaps even unrestrained, sense of enthusiasm. When employed
in relation to the Prosecution’s core function in the institution and conduct of
criminal proceedings against accused persons, this plainly connotes an improper
exercise of prosecutorial power and cannot reasonably be viewed as innocuous.
And the crux of the allegation in the Second Interview Statement was something
even more sinister; it was that this improper zeal had “led to the death sentence”
imposed on Gobi [emphasis added].
65 The Second Interview Statement also has to be understood in the context

of the wider point that Mr Ravi was making. We note the comments made by
Mr Ravi that prefaced the Second Interview Statement:
As a defence counsel, I only have a role towards my client. But

the Prosecution in prosecuting people, especially for death
penalty, it is extremely important that you must be fair to both
sides, the accused, and the State. So therefore, balancing this,
the State has been overzealous in his prosecution, the Public
Prosecutor has been overzealous in his prosecution and that
has led to the death sentence of Gobi.
[emphasis added]
34

66 What is apparent from this is that Mr Ravi was not only alleging that the
Prosecution had been excessively enthusiastic in the conduct of the criminal
proceedings involving Gobi, but in doing so had been unfair to Gobi, potentially
to his fatal detriment. It is difficult to see, then, how describing the Prosecution’s
conduct of the Gobi proceedings as “overzealous” could be anything but
negative, let alone a description that was merely neutral.
67 When this understanding of the Second Interview Statement is

juxtaposed against the true nature of the conduct of the Prosecution’s case (as
explained at [62] above), there can be no doubt that the Second Interview
Statement was wholly without basis. Nothing in the Brief Grounds or the
Prosecution’s conduct in the course of the Gobi proceedings lends credence to
Mr Ravi’s allegation that the Prosecution had acted unfairly towards Gobi in
light of the prevailing legal position at the relevant time.
68 The same is true of the First and Third Interview Statements, which
essentially consist of allegations that the change of the Prosecution’s case noted
by the Court of Appeal in Gobi (Review) called into question the “fairness of
the administration of justice … by the Prosecution”, and that “the fairness of the
Prosecution [was] called into question by the Court itself”. Again, it is difficult
to see how these statements could be premised on a rational basis in light of our
observations at [62] above on the state of the law at the relevant time. It was not
accurate for Mr Ravi to say that the Court of Appeal had called into question
the fairness of the Prosecution; nor was any question raised as to the
Prosecution’s administration of justice because the conduct of Gobi’s
prosecution had been premised on the pre-Adili understanding of s 18(1) of the
MDA, which at the time also extended to the s 18(2) MDA presumption.
35

69 The third and final observation we make is that Mr Ravi, in making the
First to Third Interview Statements, had conveyed that the AG et al had acted
improperly in the conduct of the Gobi proceedings. In this connection, we
respectfully disagree with the DT’s view that Mr Ravi had “never said anywhere
or made the imputation that the AGC had acted in bad faith, maliciously or
improperly” [emphasis added]. Mr Ravi’s intention in this regard may be
understood with reference to both an objective interpretation of these statements
and his own subjective account of his motivations, viewed in the context of his
surrounding conduct at the time these statements were made. The starting point
here was to consider what Mr Ravi meant when he made the First to Third
Interview Statements. On a plain reading of these statements, as we have
canvassed at [64]–[68] above, the First to Third Interview Statements imputed
that the AG et al had unfairly conducted the Gobi proceedings in a manner that
constituted a breach of the fairness of the administration of justice by the
Prosecution. In our view, such an imputation clearly suggested that the
Prosecution had acted improperly. To the extent that the DT did not take the
same view, it may have well been due to the “neutral” interpretation it had
placed on words such as “overzealous” in the First to Third Interview
Statements. Mr Ravi, in fact, confirmed in cross-examination before the DT that
he had sought to highlight this alleged “breach of … fairness” by the
Prosecution:
Q: Okay, so you were not trying to imply that the

public prosecutor was acting in [bad] faith or
maliciously, yes?
[Mr Ravi]: … I was saying that the public prosecutor was a
wrongdoer to the extent that they have conduct
the---the---they---the---there was a breach of
their fairness in terms of they are ministers of
justice and administration of justice in the
context of running a different case.
[emphasis added].
36

70 Given that Mr Ravi had invoked the paramount duty of the Prosecution
and its officers as “ministers of justice”, we cannot see how the alleged breach
of that duty could be characterised as not improper. In our view, Mr Ravi’s
subsequent conduct in making the Facebook Statements (which, amongst other
things, alleged that the Prosecution were “wrongdoers”), and his further act of
commencing legal proceedings in Suit 1068 which claimed that the AG et al
had committed the tort of misfeasance in public office, and which we will return
to later in this judgment, reinforces the inference that Mr Ravi intended to
convey impropriety by the Prosecution.
71 In light of the foregoing observations, we consider that the DT erred in

its interpretation of the First to Third Interview Statements. Indeed, when the
full extent of the Court of Appeal’s comments in its Brief Grounds is
considered, the allegations contained in the First to Third Interview Statements
are devoid of any reasonable basis. Mr Ravi essentially sought to cast the
impression that the Prosecution had “overzealous[ly]” and unfairly changed its
case in order to secure Gobi’s conviction of a capital charge potentially leading
to his death, and he then attempted to shore up this assertion by erroneously
stating that the “Court itself” shared similar misgivings regarding the
Prosecution’s conduct. That was untrue as is evident even from the extracts of
Gobi (Review) and the Brief Grounds that we have referred to above. Plainly,
Mr Ravi intended to convey impropriety on the part of the Public Prosecutor,
and these allegations, which rested on false premises, were gravely irresponsible
and wholly improper.
72 In that light, it is apt also to touch on the Judge’s decision in AG v Ravi.

The Judge agreed with the DT’s decision on the First Charge and found that Mr
Ravi had a rational basis for making the Facebook Statements: see AG v Ravi
at [46]. Unlike the DT, and in fairness to the Judge, the Judge had at [44] of AG
37

v Ravi expressly considered the observations of the Court of Appeal in the Brief
Grounds and Gobi (Review) (see AG v Ravi at [110] and [113]) regarding the
conduct of the Prosecution in light of the legal position at the time. He reasoned,
however, that (AG v Ravi at [44]):
… [I]n my view, the first defendant’s Interview Statements

hinged on the Court of Appeal having specifically highlighted
two matters in the [Brief Grounds]: first, the Prosecution’s
change in its stance on appeal, and second the resulting
prejudice to Gobi. The former was an objective fact. The latter
was also factual in that the Court of Appeal had expressly
articulated its concern that prejudice was caused to Gobi by
the Prosecution’s change in stance, and this was so irrespective
of whether the Prosecution had reasonable justification for how
it ran its case on appeal.
73 With respect, we are unable to agree with the Judge’s reasoning. It

follows from our observations regarding the true import of the First to Third
Interview Statements that Mr Ravi was not merely stating objective facts
regarding the conduct of the Gobi proceedings but had gone further to call the
“fairness” of the Prosecution’s conduct into question. The First to Third
Interview Statements carried an imputation of wrongdoing which implicated the
propriety with which the Prosecution had conducted its case (namely, by
suggesting a deliberate, “overzealous” and unfair pursuit of the death penalty
against Gobi), rather than factual statements regarding the result that prejudice
was caused. Contrary to the Judge’s observations (and as we have highlighted
at [62] above), because of the imputation of wrongdoing on the part of the
Prosecution, whether the Prosecution had a “reasonable justification for how it
ran its case on appeal” was of direct relevance to whether these statements were
made on a rational basis. As previously explained, in our judgment, they were
not so made because the change of case was not something that anyone,
including the Prosecution seemed to have thought was legally material at the
38

relevant time, and which Mr Ravi himself thought was not material even after
the Court of Appeal had raised the issue when hearing Gobi (Review). Further,
the Court of Appeal’s observations as to prejudice were not directed at
suggesting any such impropriety on the part of the Prosecution but solely at the
potential materiality of this change of case given that the Prosecution had run
its case at trial on a certain basis. If the Prosecution was held to that case, then
in the light of the development of the law after Adili, it would not be able to rely
on the presumption under s 18(2) once the point was decided in Gobi (Review).
74 To conclude this section of the judgment, we reiterate that the First

Charge is not in issue, and that we therefore do not base our findings on due
cause on this. But the point of the foregoing analysis on the First Charge is to
demonstrate the fact that an assessment of the gravity of Mr Ravi’s misconduct
cannot be undertaken properly without a granular examination of the context in
which they were made. This includes, in particular, the various turns in the Gobi
proceedings. It would be artificial to ignore Mr Ravi’s conduct which forms the
subject of the First Charge in considering the other charges against him, which
involve statements of a similar nature made by Mr Ravi in the same series of
events. We return to this theme later in our judgment.
75 With the foregoing in mind, we turn to consider what the gravamen of

Mr Ravi’s misconduct in relation to the Second to Fourth Charges was.
The Second Charge
76 The Second Charge pertained to Mr Ravi’s First and Second Facebook

Statements. These are set out in full at [21] above and are set out again below:
(a) The First Facebook Statement: “… these government lawyers

who handled the Gobi’s case are the wrongdoers.”
39

(b) The Second Facebook Statement: “I have already taken

instructions from Gobi and his family to commence proceedings against
[the AG], [the DAG], Mr Faizal SC in court. I will file the writ of
summons in the next few days for both personally against all 3 of the
above Government lawyers and also against their offices in which they
hold public appointment. They have to be accountable to Gobi and his
family in court and be subject to rigorous cross-examination and public
scrutiny of their conduct of Gobi’s case …”.
By these statements, Mr Ravi is charged with having made “a baseless

accusation of misconduct and/or a threat to commence legal proceedings”
against his fellow legal practitioners, which amounted to improper conduct
under s 83(2)(b)(i) of the LPA read with r 7(2) of the PCR. Rule 7(2) of the PCR
provides that:
Responsibilities of legal practitioners to each other

7.— …
…
(2) A legal practitioner must treat other legal practitioners with
courtesy and fairness.
77 Put simply, the key inquiry in the Second Charge is whether Mr Ravi’s
failure to treat his fellow legal practitioners (in this case, the AG et al) with
courtesy and fairness was of such a degree of seriousness as to amount to due
cause. The DT found that no serious misconduct arose from the First Facebook
Statement. This was ostensibly because the DT found that Mr Ravi had, in
referring to the AG et al as wrongdoers, intended to imply a civil wrong as there
was “no reference to any criminal proceedings or the prospect/possibility
thereof”.
40

78 In our view, and with respect, the DT missed the mark in focussing its
analysis on the distinction between a civil and criminal wrong. As we have
highlighted at [74] above, the real gravamen of the misconduct here had to be
assessed in relation to all the relevant circumstances, including the nature of the
statements and the target of the allegations made therein, rather than be confined
to the binary question of whether the wrong alleged was civil or criminal in
nature. Such a distinction is tangential to the issue of whether Mr Ravi had acted
in fairness and courtesy toward the AG et al as fellow legal practitioners. The
essence of the inquiry centres on understanding what Mr Ravi meant when he
labelled the AG et al as “wrongdoers”.
79 That, in turn, is informed by reference to several contextual sources. We

begin with Mr Ravi’s Interview Statements, which were made one day prior to
the Facebook Statements. These, due to their proximity in time, are relevant to
any attempt to understand the essence of Mr Ravi’s allegation of wrongdoing
on the part of the AG et al. It will be recalled that Mr Ravi’s Interview
Statements contained the allegation that the AG, as Public Prosecutor, was
“overzealous in his prosecution” having conducted it in a manner which “call[ed
into question] the fairness of the administration of justice in Gobi’s case by the
Prosecution”, “[leading] to the death sentence of [Gobi].” Put in Mr Ravi’s
words, the “wrongdoing” referred to the alleged “breach of [the Prosecution’s
duty of] fairness [as] ministers of justice and [the] administration of justice”.
80 Beyond this, the full sting of the alleged “civil wrong” is best articulated
in the statement of claim filed by Mr Ravi when he made good on his declaration
to commence an action against the AG et al in Suit 1068 (the “Statement of
Claim”). Suit 1068 was commenced on 4 November 2020, less than two weeks
after the release of the Brief Grounds. We note that on the same day, Mr Ravi
posted the Statement of Claim on Facebook with a comment that the suit was
41

based on an alleged abuse of power or other breach of duty. In his Statement of

Claim, Mr Ravi (on behalf of Gobi) alleged that the AG et al were liable for the
tort of misfeasance in public office for “abus[ing] their powers and act[ing] in
bad faith by improperly performing a legal act which resulted in harm to
[Gobi]”. This alleged breach was particularised as follows:
34. By running a different case as between the Plaintiff’s trial

and the Prosecution’s appeal in [Gobi (Appeal)], the [AG et al]
were dishonest and behaved in a manner unbefitting of a legal
practitioner’s professional standing which is contrary to the
public interest with substantial prejudice to the fairness of
[Gobi’s] trial.
35. Through the deplorable conduct, the [AG et al] had taken
unfair advantage of [Gobi] by misleading the CA as to its case
on appeal, leading the CA to overturn [Gobi’s] acquittal and
sentence him to death in [Gobi (Appeal)]…
36. By running a different case as between [Gobi’s] trial and the
Prosecution’s appeal in [Gobi (Appeal)], the [AG et al] have
failed to act honourably in their duties to assist in the
administration of justice. Through such conduct, the
prosecutorial process did not maintain fairness, integrity and
efficiency which is contrary to [Gobi’s] right to due process …
81 When these paragraphs of the Statement of Claim were brought to

Mr Ravi’s attention during the hearing before us, he explained that he had
described the conduct of the Gobi proceedings as “dishonest” in light of the
Prosecution’s alleged failure to apply to set aside Gobi’s conviction in Gobi
(Appeal) despite the Court of Appeal having raised the issue of a change of case
in the Registry Letter (see [59(e)]–[59(f)]). Mr Ravi also sought, in an e-mail
sent to the Supreme Court Registry on 9 February 2023, to furnish another
explanation for the use of the term “dishonest” (the “9 February e-mail”), even
though no leave had been sought by Mr Ravi to make these further submissions.
Mr Ravi averred that the allegation of dishonesty had to be seen in the light of
the conduct of the state counsel in charge of OS 111. It transpired that during
42

the course of the proceedings in OS 111, the AGC had requested and received
from the Singapore Prison Service (“SPS”) the appellants’ correspondence with
their lawyers and families (see Gobi a/l Avedian and another v Attorney-
General and another appeal [2020] 2 SLR 883). Mr Ravi stated in the 9
February e-mail that the “AGC was dishonest” in the course of those
proceedings when the state counsel involved denied that the SPS had forwarded
the correspondence in issue, when “in fact, there were multiple disclosures for
multiple prisoners, the true scale of which is unknown”.
82 Leaving aside the procedural impropriety of the 9 February e-mail, these

arguments are without merit. It is apparent from the language of paragraph 34
of the Statement of Claim that the term “dishonest” was not directed at any
alleged failure of the Prosecution to discontinue the Gobi proceedings. Further,
the issue in OS 111 of the appellants’ correspondence was not even faintly
alluded to in paragraph 34, or for that matter, anywhere else in the Statement of
Claim. Instead, it is clear that the allegation of dishonesty was made in relation
to the “running of a different case as between [Gobi’s] trial and the
Prosecution’s appeal in [CCA 20]” [emphasis added].
83 Returning to the inquiry at hand, which is what Mr Ravi was referring

to when he labelled the AG et al as “wrongdoers”, in our judgment, it is apparent
from paragraphs 34 to 36 of the Statement of Claim that Mr Ravi was not merely
stating the fact that the Prosecution had run a different case at trial and on appeal
and that this had been prejudicial to Gobi. Rather, Mr Ravi had gone much
further to allege that the Prosecution had chosen to conduct the Gobi
proceedings in a “dishonest”, “deplorable” and dishonourable manner that
“[took] unfair advantage” of Mr Ravi’s client and misled the court, leading to
the imposition of the sentence of death on Gobi. The First Facebook Statement
must be read in this light, because in Mr Ravi’s view, it was this grave and
43

intentional abuse of prosecutorial powers that warranted his public call in his
Second Facebook Statement for the AG et al to be “accountable to Gobi and his
family in court and … subject to rigorous cross-examination and public scrutiny
of their conduct of Gobi’s case”.
84 In our judgment, quite apart from whether this referred to a transgression

of a civil or criminal nature, the allegation of “wrongdoing” in the First
Facebook Statement, in substance, constituted a serious accusation against the
AG et al. The AG holds an essential role in our legal system, having been
accorded the power “to institute, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for
any offence” by Art 35(8) of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore
(2020 Rev Ed). This is mirrored in s 10 of the CPC, which states that the AG,
as the Public Prosecutor, “has the control and direction of criminal
prosecutions”. The central place that the AG, as the Public Prosecutor, has in
the administration of justice is underscored by the status accorded to the
prosecutorial function, which is subject only to the constitutional power of the
court to prevent the prosecutorial power from being exercised
unconstitutionally: see Law Society of Singapore v Tan Guat Neo Phyllis [2008]
2 SLR(R) 239 at [144]. To similar effect, this court observed in Re Gopalan
Nair [1992] 2 SLR(R) 969 (“Gopalan Nair”) at [48], that “[t]he office of the
AG, like that of a judge, is an essential pillar of our legal system and no advocate
and solicitor should be allowed to undermine the integrity of that office”.
85 When these weighty considerations are set against the nature of the
allegation made in the First Facebook Statement, which is that the AG et al had
set out to do wrong in the “fairness of the administration of justice in Gobi’s
case” in a manner that “led to the death sentence of Gobi”, it is difficult to
conceive of a more serious attack against the office of the AG. The allegation
44

of wrongdoing cuts right to the heart of the AG’s role and suggested serious
impropriety and the dereliction of his duty in the fair administration of justice.
86 The gravity of Mr Ravi’s misconduct in the Second Charge also had to

be assessed against the procedural history of the Gobi proceedings. We return
here to the point we made at [71] of this judgment, that an in-depth
understanding of the relevant events is necessary in order to grasp the full pith
of Mr Ravi’s misconduct. While we do not propose to rehearse the matters set
out at [59(a)]–[59(h)], we do reiterate two pertinent observations that were made
in the Brief Grounds. First, the Court of Appeal, referring to those representing
Gobi, highlighted at [9] of the Brief Grounds that “[t]his issue [of a change of
case] was not raised … in [Gobi (Appeal)] or in the initial submissions [in Gobi
(Review)]” [emphasis added], but instead was raised for the first time on the
Court of Appeal’s own motion in the Registry Letter. Second, and relatedly, the
Court of Appeal explicitly considered at [19] of the Brief Grounds that the
parties did not have the benefit of the guidance in Adili at the time of trial and
contemplated that the Prosecution’s case might have been formulated on the
premise that the doctrine of wilful blindness was relevant in considering
whether the s 18(2) presumption had been rebutted. The Court of Appeal at [23]
of the Brief Grounds also emphasised that its decision came in the light of
particular circumstances in the course of the Gobi proceedings, one of which
was “the different case that the Prosecution ran on appeal, a difference that …
was likely not thought to be material by either the Prosecution or the Defence
at the time, given the prevailing legal position at that time” [emphasis added].
87 Linking these points to the allegations that form the subject of the
Second Charge, two further points arise.
45

88 First, nothing in the Brief Grounds provided Mr Ravi with a reasonable

basis to allege serious “wrongdo[ing]” on the part of the AG et al, as he had
done in the First Facebook Statement. We reiterate here that while the Court of
Appeal did observe in its Brief Grounds at [20] that the Prosecution’s change of
case had caused prejudice to Gobi, it did not conclude that the Prosecution had
done this deliberately. Conversely, it expressly clarified that no party to the
proceedings could have appreciated the distinction in the Prosecution’s cases at
trial and on appeal because of the prevailing legal position at the time. This
indeed was why the point was not picked up by any of those involved in Gobi
(Appeal) – neither the Prosecution, the Defence, nor even the court. The
consequent prejudice – in the sense that this gave rise to a course that could have
a material bearing on the accused person – was, as noted by the Court of Appeal,
a result of a confluence of unique circumstances, as well as the evolution and
clarification of the legal position following Adili. Therefore, when the allegation
of “wrongdo[ing]” in the First Facebook Statement (made the very day
following the delivery of the Brief Grounds) is set against this backdrop, it
becomes clear that the First Facebook Statement was made wholly without
basis.
89 Second, Mr Ravi, at the least, ought to have known of the seriousness of

the allegations made in the First and Second Facebook Statements, and that any
suggestion of impropriety on the Prosecution’s part lacked basis in light of the
Court of Appeal’s Brief Grounds. While Mr Ravi denied any knowledge of the
falsehood of these statements in his Reply Letter, we take the view that he ought
to have known this not merely because he is an experienced lawyer of around
20 years’ standing, but also because he had represented Gobi throughout the
review proceedings and was present when the Court of Appeal delivered its
Brief Grounds. To have proceeded to make the accusations that he did in the
46

First and Second Facebook Statements despite this, in our view, indicates that
Mr Ravi did so at least recklessly (if not deliberately), without due regard for
the importance of communicating the true state of affairs.
90 To summarise our findings on the Second Charge thus far, the gravamen
of the misconduct here is that by making the First Facebook Statement, Mr Ravi
recklessly levied a grave yet baseless accusation that the Prosecution had chosen
to conduct the Gobi proceedings in a “dishonest” and “deplorable” manner that
“[took] unfair advantage” of Gobi and misled the court, causing the sentence of
death to be wrongly imposed on Gobi.
91 In our judgment, the misconduct disclosed in the Second Charge

constituted a serious breach of r 7(2) of the PCR. The First Facebook Statement
could not be described as courteous or fair in any conceivable sense of these
terms. The particular severity of Mr Ravi’s misconduct in this case, given the
targets of his statements, may be highlighted with reference to the principles in
r 7(1) of the PCR, which guide the interpretation of r 7(2). In particular, r 7(1)
states that “[a] legal practitioner must not deal with another legal practitioner in
any manner that may adversely affect the reputation and good standing of the
legal profession or the practice of law in Singapore” [emphasis added]. In the
“paradigm” case where one legal practitioner treats another discourteously or
unfairly, that in itself may affect the reputation and standing of the legal
profession as an honourable profession. Where, however, the legal practitioner
in question is a constitutional office-holder (as is the case with the AG), and the
precise form taken by the discourtesy or unfairness involves a fundamental
attack on the discharge of that constitutional role, the damage to the reputation
and standing of the legal profession is particularly severe: see at [83] above. The
manner in which the First Facebook Statement attacked the AG et al seriously
47

undermined not only the good standing of the legal profession, but more
broadly, the integrity of the legal system as a whole.
92 We add here that the extent of unfairness and discourtesy shown by

Mr Ravi in advancing a baseless allegation against the AG et al is further
amplified when one considers the potential public reach of Mr Ravi’s First and
Second Facebook Statements. As the Law Society highlights in its submissions,
the various Facebook posts that are material to these proceedings were posted
on Mr Ravi’s Facebook account, which was accessible to the public and had a
sizeable following of over 32,400 followers. Undoubtedly, the widespread
circulation of an allegation of the nature set out above enhanced the risk that the
integrity of the AG would be undermined in the eyes of the public. Thus, the
unfairness and discourtesy here was of such a degree as to threaten to erode the
public’s trust in a key legal institution of Singapore not merely by virtue of its
content, but also its potentially far-reaching circulation.
93 In this light, we address Mr Ravi’s submission that “cause lawyering”

justified his decision to make the various Facebook posts that are material to the
present proceedings. Mr Ravi’s argument here, as we understand it, is that the
nature of the case (being one that involved the potential imposition of capital
punishment) was such that it necessitated public discussion. Indeed, Mr Ravi,
making reference to Jothie Rajah and Arun K Thiruvengadam, “Of Absences,
Masks, and Exceptions: Cause Lawyering in Singapore” (2013) 31 (3)
Wisconsin International Law Journal 646 (“Cause Lawyering in Singapore”),
explained his submission as follows:
Mr Ravi: Yes. The cause lawyering article, I

thought, would be useful because, Your
Honour, judicial execution, and---and---
and executions are important matters.
They’re not property matters. They’re not
48

arbitration matters. They’re not company

matters. This is a human life. And the
state, when it executes, it executes on
behalf of its citizens. Judicial executions
also will---will---will apply the same way
because of the powers that has been
given to the Judges. What I’m saying is
that---that it should not be a private matter
when there’s a miscarriage of justice has
taken place when the AG, after all that
has transpired, have issued all those
letters.
[emphasis added]
94 In our judgment, this submission is wrong and in no way mitigates the

seriousness of Mr Ravi’s misconduct. We cannot see how the “cause” at hand,
no matter its public sensitivity or significance, necessitated (let alone justified)
the publication of unfair, baseless, discourteous and damaging statements.
While the Gobi proceedings were undoubtedly a matter of public interest given
the nature of the legal issues at hand and, more importantly, the fact that a life
was at stake, this did not give Mr Ravi a license to publicly levy accusations of
wrongdoing against the AG et al without basis. For completeness, nothing in
Cause Lawyering in Singapore suggests otherwise (nor was the professional
conduct of legal practitioners in Singapore discussed there).
95 Before we conclude our findings on the Second Charge, we turn to

consider Mr Ravi’s submission that the case authorities involving breaches of
r 7(2) of the PCR generally have not been found to disclose due cause. However,
only one authority cited by Mr Ravi – namely, The Law Society of Singapore v
Terence Tan Bian Chye [2007] SGDC 10 (“Terence Tan”) – involved
discourtesy between legal practitioners.
96 In Terence Tan, the respondent was a practitioner of about 15 years’

standing who represented his client in a High Court suit. In the course of those
49

proceedings, the respondent wrote several offensive and threatening letters to

his opposing counsel and various related parties to the suit. In particular, his
letter to his opposing counsel contained the allegation that the opposing counsel
was misleading the court. While this was found to have breached the equivalent
of r 7(2) of the PCR, the disciplinary committee found that due cause was not
shown and recommended a monetary penalty of $3,000 for this particular act
(amongst other monetary penalties for the letters he had sent to the related
parties to the suit).
97 Mr Ravi also relied on an excerpt in Jeffrey Pinsler, Ethics and

Professional Responsibility: A Code for the Advocate and Solicitor (Academy
Publishing, 2007) (“Ethics and Professional Responsibility”) at paragraph 25-
066 to illustrate that such cases often only attracted fines. This excerpt listed
cases involving “offensive behaviour” between legal practitioners, as follows:
In December 1993, an advocate and solicitor was fined $250 for

using threatening language against a legal officer of the HDB.
In September 1993, an advocate and solicitor was fined $1,000
for threatening a court interpreter. In November 1994,
December 1996 and February 2001, certain advocates and
solicitors were fined $100, $1,500 and $5000 respectively for
being offensive to public prosecutors. In February 1995, an
advocate and solicitor was fined $2000 for writing a letter in
threatening terms. In February 2000, an advocate and solicitor
was fined $1000 for making offensive remarks about the
President of the Shariah Court in a written submission. In July
2000, an advocate and solicitor was fined $1000 for
disrespectful conduct towards the Commissioner of Labour
(which included the allegation that the Commissioner was
biased) …
98 In our view, these authorities do not assist Mr Ravi. The misconduct in

the case before us, unlike in Terence Tan, was not a mere instance of emotions
spilling over between counsel on opposing sides, resulting in the exchange of
harsh words. Nor was this simply one example in the litany of cases on rude
behaviour cited in the excerpt from Ethics and Professional Responsibility set
50

out above. Instead, as we have noted at [83], the nature and sting of the
discourtesy and unfairness that were encapsulated in the First and Second
Facebook Statements, when these are correctly understood, was an affront to an
essential pillar of our legal system with reckless disregard for the truth. The
failure here went far beyond the realm of impoliteness and was an attack on the
administration of criminal justice. This cannot be lightly countenanced, nor
waved away with a slap on the wrist.
99 Therefore, in our judgment, due cause is amply established when the

proper gravamen of the Second Charge is appreciated. We turn next to consider
the gravamen of the Third Charge.
The Third Charge
100 The Third Charge concerned Mr Ravi’s declaration in the Third

Facebook Statement that he would “commence proceedings against law society
[sic] if it does not do its part to protect lawyers and their independence of the
profession if it entertains any further complaints or partcipates [sic] in any
harassment by AG to harass [him] in doing [his] job.” In so doing, Mr Ravi was
charged with issuing “a threat to commence legal proceedings against the Law
Society and/or a baseless insinuation that the Law Society misus[ed] its
statutory powers” and was thereby guilty of improper conduct pursuant to
s 83(2)(b)(i) of the LPA read with r 8(3)(b) of the PCR.
101 The DT found that the Third Facebook Statement constituted a baseless
accusation against the Law Society, because, contrary to what the Third
Facebook Statement suggested, the Law Society did not have the discretion not
to act on the DAG’s Complaint.
51

102 We agree with the DT. The substance of the allegation in the Third
Facebook Statement was that, in “entertain[ing]” or, in other words, acting on
the DAG’s Complaint, the Law Society was “participat[ing] ... in ... harassment
by [the] AG” against Mr Ravi in “doing [his] job” and thereby was failing to
“protect lawyers and the independence of the profession”. This implicitly
suggested that the Law Society chose to act on the DAG’s Complaint, which
was simply not the case. Section 85 of the LPA sets out the statutory scheme
for the consideration of complaints against regulated legal practitioners. In the
ordinary case, where the formal requirements of s 85(1) are fulfilled, the
Council of the Law Society must refer every complaint to the Chairperson of
the Inquiry Panel: see s 85(1A) of the LPA. In turn, the Chairperson of the
Inquiry Panel must constitute a Review Committee (see s 85(6) of the LPA),
which in turn will either refer the matter back to the Chairperson or direct the
Council to dismiss the matter (see s 85(8) of the LPA). Should the Review
Committee refer the matter to the Chairperson, the Chairperson is to constitute
an Inquiry Committee (see s 85(10) of the LPA). The Inquiry Committee is to
consider, amongst other matters, whether a formal investigation by a
Disciplinary Tribunal is required (see s 86(7) of the LPA).
103 As we recently observed in Law Society of Singapore v Nalpon, Zero

Geraldo Mario [2022] 3 SLR 1386 (“Nalpon”) at [29], however, unlike the
position under s 85(1) of the LPA, “[s] 85(3)(b) of the LPA … confers on a very
select group of office holders a power of a relatively exceptional nature by
granting their complaints special weight, according them a statutory ‘shortcut’
that bypasses the usual procedure of an inquiry by an Inquiry Committee before
a complaint can come before a Disciplinary Tribunal”. As the AG fell within
this “select group”, the DAG’s Complaint could be and was referred to the Law
Society under the statutory “shortcut” under s 85(3)(b). This, as a matter of
52

statutory design, mandated the Law Society to apply for a disciplinary tribunal
to be appointed. In so far as the Third Facebook Statement contained any
insinuation suggesting that the Law Society could choose not to act in this way
and would be acting improperly if it did apply for the appointment of a
Disciplinary Tribunal, it was wholly without basis.
104 We do agree with the Law Society that Mr Ravi knew that the Law
Society was statutorily required to act on the complaints referred to by the AG.
In this regard, Mr Ravi’s affidavit of evidence-in-chief contained his
acknowledgment that the Law Society was “statutory [sic] obliged to take the
steps under s 85(3) of the LPA upon receipt of complaints from the AGC”. Mr
Ravi also acknowledged his awareness of the same during the hearing before
us. His main arguments on the Third Charge were, instead, centred on how the
statutory framework under s 85 of the LPA was “imbalanced” in favour of the
AG, therefore constituting a breach of natural justice. In this regard, Mr Ravi
explained that this was why he had made the Third Facebook Statement:
[Mr Ravi]: [Section 85(3) of the LPA] undermines the

administration of justice to the extent that
lawyers have to be---always have this sword of
Damocles hang---dangling with---on their---over
their head with these pre-emptive powers given to
the Attorney-General to refer a complaint to the DT
directly, bypassing even the Inquiry Committee,
Your Honour.
Menon, CJ: And that is why you issued that statement
against the Law Society?
[Mr Ravi]: Yes, Your Honour. And also generally, this is also
the view of many members of the criminal bar.
[emphasis added]
105 These arguments, in our view, do little to justify the baseless attack by
Mr Ravi directed at the Law Society’s execution of its core functions.
Conversely, they reinforce the view that Mr Ravi, in making the Third Facebook
53

Statement, had known of the true state of affairs and the Law Society’s statutory
obligations, but, in spite of this, chose to impute impropriety to the Law Society
for doing nothing more than carrying out those statutory obligations, in order to
ventilate the unfairness he perceived in the legislative scheme. This suggested
to us that Mr Ravi made the Third Facebook Statement with, at the very least, a
reckless disregard for the truth.
106 We turn our focus to the latter portion of the Third Facebook Statement,
which is that the Law Society would be “participat[ing]…in harassment” by
the AG [emphasis added]. In this regard, the Third Facebook Statement appears
to insinuate that if the Law Society was to act on the DAG’s Complaint, it would
be part of a wilful effort to harass Mr Ravi’s attempts to “[do his] job”. This
premise was tied to one of the core purposes of the Law Society (which is to
“protect lawyers and the independence of the profession”: see s 38(1)(d) of the
LPA). The Third Facebook Statement, therefore, not only gave the erroneous
impression that the Law Society could in its discretion have decided not to refer
the DAG's Complaint to the DT, but also intimated that the Law Society would
deliberately be acting improperly and contrary to its own purposes, even to the
extent of abdicating its own duties to the legal profession if it acted upon the
said complaint.
107 This, in our judgment, constituted a serious breach of r 8(3)(b) of the

PCR, which provides that “[a] legal practitioner must not act towards any person
in a way which is fraudulent, deceitful or otherwise contrary to the legal
practitioner’s position as a member of an honourable profession”. Attacking the
very statutory body charged with the regulation of the profession is wholly
inconsistent with such notions of honour. The misconduct in the Third Charge,
therefore, is of sufficient seriousness and gives rise to due cause.
54

The Fourth Charge
108 The Fourth Charge is that Mr Ravi acted improperly within the meaning
of s 83(2)(b)(i) of the LPA read with r 7(2) of the PCR in sending the Reply
Letter and threatening to commence legal proceedings against the AG et al
therein.
109 Neither party seriously contended that the Fourth Charge disclosed due
cause in and of itself. That said, the facts that ground the Fourth Charge cannot
be viewed in isolation. They form part of the “totality of the facts and
circumstances” in the light of which the court ought to assess whether Mr Ravi’s
misconduct is sufficiently serious. On this score, Mr Ravi’s Reply Letter,
accompanied by his subsequent act of publicly announcing his “strict
instructions to commence proceedings” against the AG et al in his Second
Facebook Post, had the effect of strengthening our interpretation regarding the
entire course of Mr Ravi’s conduct as one that persistently insinuated or alleged
impropriety on the part of the AG et al. This therefore buttresses our finding
that due cause is made out.
Conclusion on due cause
110 In the round, we find that due cause has been shown in respect of
Mr Ravi’s misconduct giving rise to the Second to Fourth Charges, taken as a
whole. Mr Ravi accused the AG et al of having improperly and unfairly pursued
the prosecution of Gobi at the potential cost of his life. He then went on to
suggest falsely that, should the Law Society act on the DAG’s Complaint, it
would be committing a deliberate act of impropriety (even to the extent of
abdicating its statutorily accorded duties to the legal profession). The character
and import of these allegations were such as to pose a real threat of serious
injury to public confidence in the cornerstones of our legal system. This was not
55

simply because of the manner in which these allegations struck at the core
functions of the AG and the Law Society respectively, but also because they
were untruthful and published to a potentially wide audience. There can be no
understating the seriousness of such infractions, nor any doubt that it warrants
that Mr Ravi be dealt with under s 83(1) of the LPA.
Sanction
111 Having found that due cause is established, we turn to consider the
appropriate sanction to be imposed on Mr Ravi. In this regard, s 83(1) of the
LPA provides for a range of penalties:
Power to strike off roll, etc.

83. —(1) All advocates and solicitors are subject to the control
of the Supreme Court and shall be liable on due cause shown
—
(a) to be struck off the roll;
(b) to be suspended from practice for a period not
exceeding 5 years;
(c) to pay a penalty of not more than $100,000;
(d) to be censured; or
(e) to suffer the punishment referred to in
paragraph (c) in addition to the punishment
referred to in paragraph (b) or (d).
112 Counsel for the Law Society, Ms Lin, initially took the position that a
suspension of three months would be appropriate. When our recent decision in
Nalpon was brought to Ms Lin’s attention during the hearing, she revised her
position on the appropriate sentence. In Nalpon, due cause was found against
the respondent on two charges: first, of having committed sub judice contempt
of court by publicly commenting on ongoing court proceedings (see Nalpon at
[55]); and second, of non-compliance with a costs order, accompanied by acts
56

taken with the aim of garnering public support for that non-compliance (which
included the publication on Facebook of communications with the AGC on the
said costs order) (see Nalpon at [63]). Taking into account the respondent’s
seniority, his disciplinary antecedents and his lack of remorse (amongst other
factors), we imposed a 15-month suspension on the respondent: Nalpon at [65]
and [69]. Having considered the sanction imposed in Nalpon, Ms Lin aligned
her position on sentence with that imposed in Nalpon. When she was given the
opportunity to address this court in reply (after Mr Ravi had made his oral
submissions), however, her final position was that a suspension that exceeds
that in Nalpon should be imposed in light of the inflammatory and unapologetic
nature of Mr Ravi’s arguments at the hearing.
113 On the other hand, Mr Ravi stands by the DT’s recommendation of a

collective penalty of $6,000, for the reasons we have set out at [43]–[45] above.
The applicable law
114 As we explained in Law Society of Singapore v Ravi s/o Madasamy

[2016] 5 SLR 1141 (“Ravi (2016)”) at [31], a determination of the appropriate
sanction in the context of disciplinary proceedings involves a consideration of
the following principles:
(a) the protection of members of the public who are dependent on

solicitors in the administration of justice;
(b) the upholding of public confidence in the integrity of the legal

profession;
(c) deterrence of similar defaults by the same solicitor and other

solicitors in the future; and
(d) the punishment of the solicitor who is guilty of misconduct.
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115 Of these, the paramount considerations are the protection of the public
and the upholding of public confidence in the integrity of the legal profession.
The ultimate question remains, in the words of this court in Law Society of
Singapore v Ravindra Samuel [1999] 1 SLR(R) 266 (“Ravindra Samuel”) at
[13], “whether the solicitor in question is a fit and proper person to be an
advocate and solicitor of the court.”
116 As readily demonstrated in our analysis on due cause, Mr Ravi’s

misconduct was seriously injurious to public confidence in the integrity of the
legal profession and thus warrants a sanction that appropriately reflects this.
Specific deterrence is also engaged given Mr Ravi’s history of disciplinary
defaults of a similar nature (which we consider at [131] below). Even at this
preliminary stage of the analysis, therefore, we are satisfied that imposing
censure or a monetary penalty would be wholly insufficient. In this regard,
reference may be made to the case of Gopalan Nair, which was the primary
authority relied on by the Law Society. In Gopalan Nair, the respondent wrote
what were found to be offensive and abusive letters to the AG, in which he had
called into question the integrity of the AG and threatened to “expose” the AG.
He also threatened to publish the letter should the AG fail to respond and
proceeded to fax the correspondence he had with the AG to various law firms
in Singapore. The Court of Three Judges found that the nature of the
respondent’s allegations cast serious aspersions against the integrity of the AG,
and in finding that due cause arose, suspended the respondent for two years. In
the present case, Mr Ravi’s misconduct not only engaged similar issues of
casting aspersions on and threatening public confidence in the AG, but went
further in many respects (which we elaborate upon at [140]–[143] below). The
point is that, taking reference from the sentence in Gopalan Nair (and that in
Nalpon which we have considered at [112] above), it is clear to us that the
58

relevant question is whether Mr Ravi’s misconduct warrants a period of

suspension that is at least at a level comparable to what was imposed in Gopalan
Nair, or whether it goes further and warrants the ultimate sanction of striking
Mr Ravi off the roll of advocates and solicitors.
117 We emphasise that, as a matter of principle, the Court of Three Judges

may consider and impose any sanction provided under s 83(1) of the LPA even
if not expressly sought by the parties (see, for instance, Law Society of
Singapore v Ooi Oon Tat [2022] SGHC 185 and Udeh Kumar). In the context
of disciplinary proceedings, every advocate and solicitor, as an officer of the
Supreme Court, is ultimately subject to the control of the court: see Law Society
of Singapore v Ang Boon Kong Lawrence [1992] 3 SLR(R) 825 at [13]. In the
exercise of this supervisory control over its officers, the court determines the
propriety of the solicitor’s conduct and metes out the appropriate sanction when
due cause is shown: see The Law Society of Singapore v CNH [2022] 3 SLR
777 at [17]. The Law Society’s position, or Mr Ravi’s for that matter, therefore,
does not and cannot constrain the court’s discretion in this regard.
118 Returning to the question posed at [116], we note that both parties agree
that Mr Ravi’s misconduct in the present case does not involve dishonesty.
Nevertheless, even proceeding on this assumption, a solicitor remains liable to
be struck off (as opposed to merely being suspended) where he conducts himself
in a way that either falls below the required standards of “integrity, probity and
trustworthiness”, or “brings grave dishonour to the profession” [emphasis in
original]: see Law Society of Singapore v Ismail bin Atan [2017] 5 SLR 746
(“Ismail bin Atan”) at [21] and Ravindra Samuel at [15]. In Law Society of
Singapore v Seow Theng Beng Samuel [2022] 4 SLR 467 (“Samuel Seow”), we
clarified that “fall[ing] below the required standards of integrity, probity and
trustworthiness” and “bring[ing] grave dishonour to the profession” were two
59

distinct elements (at [37] and [40]). The core concern of the inquiry in respect
of the first element (of “fall[ing] below the required standards of integrity,
probity and trustworthiness”) is whether the solicitor in question has a defect of
character that renders him unfit to remain an advocate and solicitor, with all the
duties and responsibilities that this entails. In contrast, the second element (of
“bring[ing] grave dishonour to the profession”) speaks to a different concern,
which we framed as follows in Samuel Seow at [39]:
The second element of “bring[ing] grave dishonour to the

profession” [emphasis in original omitted] speaks to a
somewhat different concern. To be a member of the legal
profession is to be accredited as worthy of confidence from other
solicitors, from the courts, and from the public …. The nature of
this accreditation means that each legal practitioner is a
representative of the legal profession. To allow a legal
practitioner who has brought grave dishonour to the profession
to remain on the roll perpetuates that dishonour and
undermines the value of that accreditation which is afforded to
all other legal practitioners. In such circumstances, the errant
legal practitioner cannot be suffered to remain on the roll, and to
continue bearing the implicit imprimatur of the profession
and the courts.
119 The applicable approach to considering whether a striking-off order is

appropriate in cases of misconduct not involving dishonesty, therefore, is as
follows (Samuel Seow at [41]):
(a) First, the court should consider whether the misconduct in

question attests to any character defects rendering the solicitor unfit to
be a member of the legal profession.
(b) Second, the court should consider whether the solicitor, through
his misconduct, has caused grave dishonour to the standing of the legal
profession.
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(c) Striking off is the presumptive penalty if the answer to either (a)
or (b) is yes. This presumption is only rebutted in exceptional cases.
(d) If the answer to both (a) and (b) is no, then the court will
consider, upon close examination of the facts, whether there are
circumstances that nonetheless render a striking-off order appropriate.
The court here should compare the case with precedents to determine
the appropriate sentence, taking into account the aggravating and
mitigating factors.
120 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. This, in our view, revealed an ingrained attitude that may amount
to a defect of character because Mr Ravi’s views are not only not rooted in fact
but also seem to be stubbornly held and acted upon. There is also no doubt as
to the utter disregard he has for the AG and the Law Society, both of which are
key institutions of our legal system, and has to this extent brought dishonour to
the standing of the legal profession. This is therefore a case where consideration
should be given to striking him off the roll. However, having considered the
relevant precedents, and in the light of all the circumstances, including the fact
that we disregard entirely the First to Third Interview Statements when deciding
on sentence, and in particular, the matters set out at [136] below, we hold that
the appropriate sanction is the maximum term of suspension. The position
would likely have been a striking off order if we were also sanctioning Mr Ravi
for the First Charge. We elaborate.
Defect in character
121 In the assessment of the character of the advocate and solicitor in

question, this court had observed in Samuel Seow at [41(a)] that:
61

(i) The list of character defects may include a fundamental

lack of respect for the law (such as a lawyer who racks up
multiple convictions even for relatively more minor offences),
volatility or lack of self-control detracting from the ability to
discharge one’s professional functions (such as in Law Society
of Singapore v Wong Sin Yee [2003] 3 SLR(R) 209 at [19]), and
other predatory instincts (such as in Ismail bin Atan at [18]).
This is not a closed list, and may be expanded upon, bearing in
mind in particular the duties that a solicitor owes to the court,
to his clients, to other practitioners and to the general public.
(ii) The assessment of whether misconduct demonstrates a
character defect rendering a solicitor unfit to be a member of
the legal profession depends on the particulars of the
misconduct, and the court should consider, taking into account
all the circumstances of the misconduct, whether the
misconduct stemmed from a lapse of judgment rather than a
character defect …
122 In our judgment, and as we had identified above, the particular issue that
stands out from Mr Ravi’s misconduct in the Second to Fourth Charges is his
fundamental lack of respect and blatant disregard for the integrity of
Singapore’s key legal institutions to such an extent that he has no compunction
in attempting to undermine them. It cannot be gainsaid that every legal
practitioner has a core duty to uphold the integrity of the legal system and legal
profession. Mr Ravi, instead, has attacked each of these in, respectively,
advancing allegations of serious misconduct against the AG et al, and in making
unwarranted threats and casting unwarranted aspersions against the Law
Society. In making these baseless and grave allegations, Mr Ravi has
demonstrated not only his failure to uphold public confidence in the integrity of
the legal system and legal profession, but also his readiness to actively
undermine them.
123 Mr Ravi’s blatant disregard for these key legal institutions is

demonstrated by the seriousness of the allegations made against the AG and the
Law Society coupled with his persistent tendency to make these allegations with
no regard for the truth. As highlighted above, Mr Ravi made the First Facebook
62

Statement without any regard for the Court of Appeal’s actual observations in
its Brief Grounds, nor the entirety of the Gobi proceedings (despite his close
personal involvement in the post-Gobi (Appeal) proceedings). Continuing in
this theme, the Third Facebook Statement cast the Law Society as a willing and
complicit participant in the AG’s alleged harassment of Mr Ravi, when the
Law Society, in fact, had no discretion but to apply for the DT to be convened
under s 85(3)(b) of the LPA.
124 We consider Mr Ravi’s submission that his misconduct was a result of

having reacted under pressure from the State through the Reservation Statement
because it is relevant to consider whether the misconduct stemmed from “a lapse
of judgment rather than a character defect” (Samuel Seow at [41(a)(ii)]). In our
judgment, the available evidence does not indicate that the disrespect shown to
key legal institutions in relation to the Second and Third Charges was just a
lapse of judgment. First, it was unlikely that the Reservation Statement was
operating on Mr Ravi’s mind in any significant manner when he chose to make
the impugned statements. The Reservation Statement was made on 4 February
2020 in the pre-trial conference for OS 111, which the High Court dismissed on
13 February 2020. Those proceedings, including the appeal against the High
Court’s dismissal of OS 111, concluded when the Court of Appeal dismissed
that appeal on 13 August 2020 in Gobi a/l Avedian and another v Attorney-
General and another appeal [2020] 2 SLR 883. The impugned Facebook posts
were then made two months later, on 20 October 2020. In these circumstances,
it is difficult to perceive how any pressure from the Reservation Statement
operating on Mr Ravi would have survived this passage of time, let alone
provide a sufficient explanation for either the making of the offending remarks
some eight months later, or Mr Ravi’s persistence in maintaining the stance he
63

has taken even up to the time of the hearing some years later, as we elaborate
below.
125 After making these statements on 20 October 2020, Mr Ravi persisted

in his attack against the AG by filing Suit 1068 on 4 November 2020 and
contesting the AG’s application to strike out Suit 1068 in his written
submissions dated 12 April 2021. Some months later, in the hearing before the
DT, Mr Ravi held steadfast to his view that the Prosecution’s conduct in the
Gobi proceedings raised questions as to the proper administration of justice.
Finally, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Mr Ravi openly stated at the hearing before
us on 9 November 2022 that he maintained his assertions and stance against the
Prosecution. The fact that Mr Ravi has made no attempt to remove or retract his
Interview Statements or his Facebook Statements despite the passage of more
than two years is equally telling. The foregoing amply shows that Mr Ravi’s
misconduct cannot be attributed to mere rashness or impulsivity on the spur of
the moment, but instead was a considered response expressing his continuing
views regarding these institutions. This reinforces our view that Mr Ravi’s
misconduct discloses an ingrained belief which points to a defect in character
rather than a mere lapse in judgment. Indeed, Mr Ravi’s misconduct is
aggravated by his persistence in seeking to undermine the integrity of the legal
profession with indifference to the truth.
126 Then there is Mr Ravi’s history of related disciplinary antecedents and

his unsavoury conduct at the hearing before us, points we return to at [131]–
[135] below in the course of considering the relevant aggravating factors in this
case.
64

Grave dishonour to the Bar
127 The justification for striking off a legal practitioner that brings grave
dishonour to the profession lies in the perpetuation of that dishonour while he
remains on the roll thus undermining the value of the accreditation reposed in
other solicitors who share that accreditation: see Samuel Seow at [39]. In the
present case, Mr Ravi made grievous allegations against essential pillars of our
legal system which threatened to undermine public confidence in the integrity
of these key institutions, accusing them of abusing their position and powers to
take unfair advantage of an accused person facing the death penalty and to
deliberately mislead the court (in the case of the AG et al), or of being complicit
in an attempt to harass Mr Ravi (in the case of the Law Society). These
allegations went beyond attacks on the integrity of these institutions themselves
and, more fundamentally, cast doubt on the fairness and integrity of the criminal
justice system as a whole.
128 Taking together the analysis at [121]–[127] above, it seems to us that

there is basis for holding that Mr Ravi has shown himself not to be “worthy of
confidence from other solicitors, from the courts, and from the public” (Samuel
Seow at [39]) as a representative of the legal profession entrusted with
upholding its honour and dignity.
Whether there are circumstances pointing away from the sanction of

striking off
129 We turn to consider the third limb of the approach in Samuel Seow. We
also consider at this stage the aggravating and mitigating factors of this case.
130 We begin with the following aggravating factors in this case, which are
relevant:
65

(a) First, Mr Ravi’s status as a senior practitioner of close to

20 years’ standing at the material time. In this regard, it is well
established that the more senior an advocate and solicitor, the more
damage he does to the integrity of the legal profession: see Law Society
of Singapore v Nathan Edmund [1998] 2 SLR(R) 905 at [33].
(b) Second, Mr Ravi has disciplinary antecedents.
(c) Third, Mr Ravi remains wholly unremorseful even up to and at

the hearing of this matter.
The latter two factors warrant further elaboration.
131 Section 83(5) of the LPA states that “the court may in addition to the
facts of the case take into account the past conduct of the person concerned in
order to determine what order should be made”. In this regard, the fact that an
advocate and solicitor had previously committed a similar disciplinary offence
is a “significant aggravating factor”: Law Society of Singapore v Ng Bock Hoh
Dixon [2012] 1 SLR 348 at [35]. We note that Mr Ravi has a number of
antecedents of a similar nature over the past 15 years. These are summarised as
follows:
(a) In Law Society of Singapore v Ravi Madasamy

[2007] 2 SLR(R) 300, Mr Ravi admitted to being disrespectful to and
behaving rudely before a district judge in open court. The Court of Three
Judges found him guilty of misconduct under the statutory equivalent of
s 83(2)(h) of the LPA in force at the time, and sentenced him to a one-
year suspension.
66

(b) In Law Society of Singapore v Ravi Madasamy [2012] SGDT 12

(“Ravi (2012)”), Mr Ravi made various allegations against a High Court
Judge, including that of racial bias. The disciplinary tribunal found him
guilty of misconduct under s 83(2)(h) of the LPA. Taking Mr Ravi’s
mental condition and remorse into account, the disciplinary tribunal
recommended a monetary penalty of $3,000.
(c) In Law Society of Singapore v Ravi s/o Madasamy

[2015] SGDT 5 and Ravi (2016), Mr Ravi pleaded guilty to four charges
involving the making of baseless allegations against the President of the
Law Society and a fellow advocate and solicitor on social media
(amongst others). The Court of Three Judges, noting the exceptional
circumstances regarding Mr Ravi’s mental condition and the consequent
need to protect public confidence in the integrity of the legal profession
(Ravi (2016) at [73]), prohibited Mr Ravi from applying for a practising
certificate for a period of two years.
(d) In The Law Society of Singapore v Ravi s/o Madasamy

[2020] SGDT 8 (“Ravi (2020)”), Mr Ravi was found guilty of
misconduct under s 83(2)(h) of the LPA for making various allegations
against a Deputy Public Prosecutor and a District Judge. The
disciplinary tribunal, noting his remorse, recommended that he pay a
monetary penalty of not less than $10,000.
132 While we acknowledge that Ravi (2012) and Ravi (2016) engaged
somewhat different considerations due to Mr Ravi’s mental condition at the
time, this was no longer a live consideration in Ravi (2020) or in the present
case. While Mr Ravi cited the CRPD as a basis to mitigate his liability, this was
misconceived. First, there was no evidence to suggest that his condition had
67

contributed to his misconduct in this case. In fact, at the material time, Mr Ravi
was practising under a conditional practising certificate which mandated,
amongst other conditions, that Mr Ravi had to attend regular medical
appointments to monitor his fitness to practise. Accordingly, there was no
suggestion that Mr Ravi was labouring under his previous medical condition
when he made the impugned remarks in October 2020, nor even at the point
when he took on the Gobi proceedings in September 2019. Second, and in any
case, Mr Ravi failed to elaborate on how the CRPD was relevant at all to this
case. In this light, these antecedents demonstrate a degree of recalcitrance on
Mr Ravi’s part, and also lays bare the obvious insincerity behind Mr Ravi’s
claimed remorse in each successive instance.
133 Turning to Mr Ravi’s conduct at the hearing, this was aggravating and
again indicative of an utter lack of remorse (despite having claimed to be
remorseful in his Written Submissions). At the hearing, Mr Ravi did not
apologise for his misconduct, or, for that matter, make any reference to his
claimed remorse; instead, he appeared to double down on his allegations against
the Law Society and the AG et al. With regard to the former, Mr Ravi added to
his insinuation that the Law Society was complicit in the AG’s harassment of
him, stating that “the Law Society should not be a complaint mechanism for the
Attorney-General”, and further alluded to broader systemic oppression arising
from what he deemed the “pre-emptive powers” of the AG pursuant to
s 85(3)(b) of the LPA. With regard to the AG et al, Mr Ravi alleged that the
AG’s “dishonesty” was not merely confined to the change of case in the Gobi
proceedings, but lay also in the fact that they had persisted in opposing the
review application in Gobi (Review) despite the Registry Letter having indicated
the possibility that there was a change of the Prosecution’s case at trial and on
appeal in the Gobi proceedings. Mr Ravi contended that upon receipt of that
68

letter, the AG had the duty to take the position that the mandatory death penalty
be set aside, and further to withdraw from the review proceedings. The fact that
they did not do so was, according to Mr Ravi, “dishonest”. This, despite the fact
that, as the court subsequently noted, it was likely the case that the change of
case and its legal significance was not appreciated at the material time.
Remarkably, Mr Ravi also seemed to have overlooked the fact that at the very
same time, he himself thought the change of case had not prejudiced Gobi: see
[138] below.
134 Mr Ravi, in fact, went even further to allege that the court had
“abdicate[d] its duties” by failing to exercise its powers under s 394J(1)(b) of
the CPC to review the Gobi proceedings on its own motion. This point is entirely
irrelevant to the issues in the present proceedings, which are concerned with the
impropriety of the allegations he had levied against the AG et al and the Law
Society. In our view, these further accusations were not only indications of his
impenitence, but yet another marker of his inclination to make baseless
assertions of impropriety against key legal institutions. Mr Ravi even went so
far as to impugn the profession as a whole during his oral submissions, stating
that he “[did] not feel any more part of an honourable profession” [emphasis
added]. This was an attack on the standing and integrity of the legal profession
insinuating, without any basis, that the profession was not honourable or at least
did not meet Mr Ravi’s standards of honourable conduct. Indeed, after Ms Lin
drew attention to this statement in her reply submissions, Mr Ravi repeated this
not once, but twice during the hearing:
[Mr Ravi]: I do maintain I’m not afraid of that---that---that,

you know, I---I---you know, that---that I---as if
I’m a kid, that she’s sanctioning me, because
that---what I’m saying is that, you know, one
needs to understand the kind of work that I’ve
been doing all these years, 20 years. What I’m
saying is that it is sad to say that I do not feel
69

any longer that I am part of a honourable

profession, Your Honour, that can uphold the
dignity of the profession without fear or favour.
And there is too much of oppression that’s being
imposed on lawyers in Singapore, and that is a
fair criticism that I---not only me, that I’ve made.
It has made---it is International Commission of
Jurists, International Bar Association which
Singapore Law Society is a member, have also
identified in many respect. And I will---I will say
that I’m not seeking any favour from this Court
of any sort. I’m just zealously pursuing what I
did not come to law to make big bucks and join
big firms. I’m here to pursue my cause, the oath
I’ve taken to the rule of law, Your Honour,
without---to advocate my position without---
Menon, CJ: Yes, Mr Ravi, we’ve heard all this. Thank you.
[Mr Ravi]: Yes, I’m sorry to say I don’t part --- peel --- feel
part of an honourable profession, Your Honour. I
maintain that.
[emphasis added]
135 The whole tenor of Mr Ravi’s arguments at the hearing made it evident
that he viewed himself as a victim of what he believed to be a dishonourable
system that tolerated the improper abuse of prosecutorial power by the AG et
al, the abnegation of duty by the court to initiate the review process, and the
need to contend with the “sword of Damocles” that the AG and the Law Society
had set over him during the course of his representation in the Gobi (Review)
proceedings and over the legal profession at large. Within this allegedly unjust
and oppressive system, Mr Ravi cast himself as someone who was simply
“zealously pursuing … [his] cause [and] the oath [he had] taken to the rule of
law”. This is reinforced in the contents of the 9 February e-mail, which was sent
about three months after the hearing. In the 9 February e-mail, Mr Ravi
complained that “[n]either of the state counsels [in OS 111] have been referred
for disciplinary action but instead AG’s complaint had been entertained against
[him] which reinforces the unfairness [he] had highlighted at the hearing”
70

[emphasis added]. This wholly ignored the fact that Court of Appeal had stated
at the outset that there was nothing to suggest that any of the parties even
appreciated the significance of the change of position by the Prosecution in Gobi
(Review) because it preceded Adili; as well as the fact that the Law Society had
no discretion to “entertain” complaints referred to by the AG. These points had
been highlighted to Mr Ravi at various junctures, but he nonetheless remained
impervious to this.
136 Before leaving this part of our analysis, we mention one factor that might
redress the balance a little in favour of Mr Ravi in this assessment. That is the
fact that when he made the allegations in the First to Third Facebook
Statements, he did not at the same time publish the matters that were
subsequently set out in the Statement of Claim that he filed in the ill-conceived
proceedings he brought against the AG et al. The Statement of Claim was filed
and was posted by Mr Ravi on Facebook some two weeks or so later. We have
referred to parts of that Statement of Claim because it leaves no doubt at all as
to what Mr Ravi meant and intended to convey. But the fact that those parts of
the Statement of Claim were not included in Mr Ravi’s Facebook Statements
means that perhaps some of those who read the Facebook Statements at the time
these were published may not have appreciated the full extent of his attack on
the legal system. This is especially so since we also assume in Mr Ravi’s favour
that such readers may have taken the First to Third Interview Statements in the
way the DT mistakenly saw them, rather than with a full understanding of what
Mr Ravi was saying as we have explained above.
137 We turn to consider the mitigating factors in this case. Preliminarily, we

note that mitigating factors are a less persuasive consideration in disciplinary
proceedings than in criminal cases, because of the public interest in
safeguarding the integrity of the profession and in protecting the public (see
71

Ravi (2016) at [33]; Law Society of Singapore v Kurubalan s/o Manickam

Rengaraju [2013] 4 SLR 91 at [48]–[49]).
138 Mr Ravi highlights two factors in mitigation. The first is his claimed
remorse. This is utterly without basis as evident in Mr Ravi’s conduct and we
need say no more. The second mitigating factor relied on by Mr Ravi is his
involvement in the Gobi proceedings, which contributed to the correction of a
grave miscarriage of justice. While this might in theory be considered mitigating
if it has in fact advanced the public interest, the fact is that the review application
ultimately turned on the change of the Prosecution’s case, a matter that was first
raised by the Court of Appeal and not by Mr Ravi. Mr Ravi, in fact, maintained
in his further submissions following the Registry Letter that “there does not
appear to have been an obvious prejudice to [Gobi] caused by the change in
case because the Court in [Gobi (Appeal)] quite properly regarded the case
against him as the case presented at trial and the case upon which evidence was
taken.” [emphasis added]. This necessarily limits the extent of Mr Ravi’s
personal contribution to the outcome in Gobi (Review). Moreover, as the Court
of Three Judges stated in Law Society of Singapore v Wee Wei Fen [1999]
3 SLR(R) 559 at [39], the court will only give consideration to the applicable
mitigating circumstances insofar as they are consistent with the paramount
principles of the protection of the public and the preservation of public
confidence in the profession. In our judgment, the nature of Mr Ravi’s
accusations against the AG et al and the Law Society, coupled with his
disciplinary history and lack of remorse, make it untenable to accord any
significant mitigating weight at all to such considerations in this case.
139 We turn finally to consider the precedents.
72

140 Here, we return to our earlier reference to the cases of Gopalan Nair and
Nalpon, and address how Mr Ravi’s misconduct here was more serious than
that in issue in those cases. In relation to Nalpon, it is crucial to appreciate that
the offending posts in that case did not impugn the core functions of the AG to
the same grave extent that Mr Ravi’s Facebook Statements did. In Nalpon, the
gravamen of wrong involved the respondent’s “wilful non-compliance with the
[costs order which was] accompanied by acts taken with the aim of garnering
public support for that non-compliance” (see Nalpon at [59]). In other words,
even though the respondent’s misconduct involved the making of certain
statements against the AG in a public forum, those statements did not call into
question or impugn the AG’s performance of his central role in the
administration of justice in Singapore. This placed Mr Ravi’s misconduct on an
entirely different plane from that of the respondent in Nalpon, on whom we
imposed a suspension of 15 months.
141 Turning to Gopalan Nair (where a two-year suspension was imposed),

the respondent there was a relatively more junior practitioner of around nine
years’ standing at the time. Further, we take into account Mr Ravi’s disciplinary
record. We also note that Mr Ravi published his offending statements to his
significant following on Facebook, which held greater potential to undermine
public confidence in the AG, whereas the respondent in Gopalan Nair had
circulated his offensive letters only amongst certain law firms in Singapore.
Most importantly, the gravity of the misconduct in Gopalan Nair is markedly
less than that found in the present case. To appreciate this point, a closer
examination of the facts and the nature of the misconduct in Gopalan Nair must
be undertaken. The backdrop to Gopalan Nair was the decision of the High
Court to strike Mr J B Jeyaretnam (“Mr Jeyaretnam”) off the roll of advocate
and solicitors due to his criminal convictions. The Privy Council allowed the
73

appeal against this decision: see J B Jeyaratnam v Law Society of Singapore

[1988] 3 MLJ 425. In the course of those proceedings, the AG had advised the
government that the Privy Council’s determination had no bearing on the
criminal convictions of Mr Jeyaretnam, and further stated that he had been
denied an opportunity to be heard before the Privy Council. The respondent,
taking reference from a report of the proceedings before the Privy Council in a
certain publication, then decided to send a letter to the AG, demanding to know
why he had stated that he (the AG) had been denied an opportunity to be heard.
In a subsequent letter, the respondent threatened to publish their correspondence
should he not receive a satisfactory reply; a threat he eventually carried out. The
High Court found that the respondent sought, by his first letter, “to show that
the complainant was less than honest when [the AG] asserted that he was denied
an opportunity of being heard by the Privy Council when the Council went into
an examination of the merits of the convictions” (see Gopalan Nair at [25]). It
was further found that he had no basis to insinuate this, and that those letters
were written “deliberately with a view to discrediting the AG” (see Gopalan
Nair at [48]).
142 Turning to the present case, Mr Ravi, by making the First and Second
Facebook Statements, sought to accuse the AG, without basis, of conducting the
Gobi prosecution in a dishonest and unfair manner to such an extent that it could
have led to Gobi’s death. As we had also observed above, it is hard to conceive
of a more serious accusation against the AG. While the manner in which the
integrity of the AG was questioned in Gopalan Nair was wholly unacceptable
and the misconduct undoubtedly serious, the accusation there, in our view, did
not rise to the same degree of seriousness as the present allegation.
143 Viewed together with Mr Ravi’s further (and similarly baseless)

allegations against the Law Society, what, in essence, sets this case apart from
74

Gopalan Nair (and Nalpon, for that matter) is that Mr Ravi’s misconduct went
further, both in terms of its gravity and scope. As we observed at [127] above,
the nature and substance of Mr Ravi’s allegations toward both the AG et al and
the Law Society are such that Mr Ravi was attacking the legal system as a whole.
No solicitor can be permitted to recklessly and baselessly undermine the very
pillars of the legal system in which he (as well as his fellow practitioners)
operates; to do so would plainly cause grave injury to public confidence in the
legal profession.
144 In Gopalan Nair, the solicitor was not struck off but was suspended for
two years. This was the maximum suspension available at the time. Although
this is a close case, having regard to all the circumstances, we consider that (a)
it is not necessary to strike Mr Ravi off the roll of advocates and solicitors, but
(b) that imposing anything short of the maximum term of suspension that is now
permitted would not be adequate to address the continuing danger that Mr Ravi,
by his baseless and ill-conceived attacks, poses to public confidence in the
administration of justice in Singapore.
Conclusion
145 For these reasons, we find that there is due cause for disciplinary action
and impose a five years’ suspension under s 83(1)(b) of the LPA commencing
on the date of this judgment.
75

146 We order Mr Ravi to bear the Law Society’s costs. The parties are to
write to the court, within 14 days of this judgment, with their submissions on the
appropriate quantum of costs, if no agreement is reached between them on this
point. Each party’s submissions are to be limited to eight pages.
Sundaresh Menon Tay Yong Kwang

Chief Justice Justice of the Court of Appeal
Belinda Ang Saw Ean

Justice of the Court of Appeal
Lin Weiqi Wendy and Teo Guo Zheng, Titus (WongPartnership

LLP) for the applicant;
The respondent in person.
76

(2023) SGHC 65

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IN THE COURT OF THREE JUDGES OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

Originating Summons No 2 of 2022

Law Society of Singapore

Ravi s/o Madasamy

[Legal Profession — Disciplinary proceedings]

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

Law Society of Singapore

Court of Three Judges — Originating Summons No 2 of 2022

21 March 2023 Judgment reserved.

Sundaresh Menon CJ (delivering the judgment of the court):

1 C3J/OS 2/2022 (“OS 2”) is an application by the Law Society of

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

alleged misconduct, Mr Ravi was an advocate and solicitor of 20 years’ standing

2 Following a complaint made by the DAG in respect of Mr Ravi’s various

3 Dissatisfied, the Law Society filed OS 2 on 20 January 2022 pursuant to

4 We begin by setting out the backdrop against which Mr Ravi’s

Criminal proceedings involving Gobi

5 On 11 December 2014, one Gobi a/l Avedian (“Gobi”) was arrested on

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

Presumption of possession and knowledge of controlled

8 The Prosecution appealed against Gobi’s acquittal on the capital charge

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

9 Mr Ravi began acting for Gobi in September 2019. On 3 January 2020,

10 This application was premised on a separate decision of the Court of

18.—(1) Any person who is proved to have had in his possession

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

(d) a document of title relating to a controlled drug or

Gobi’s applications for prohibitory and declaratory orders in relation to his

12 Separately, Mr Ravi on 28 January 2020 filed HC/OS 111/2020

13 On 4 February 2020, a pre-trial conference was convened at the request

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

14 On 10 February 2020, Mr Ravi filed HC/OS 181/2020 (“OS 181”) on

15 Returning to Gobi’s review application, CM 3 was heard by a five-Judge

Although we had, in Adili, expressly confined the aforesaid

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

17 The Court of Appeal’s full written judgment in Gobi (Review) was

Statements made by Mr Ravi in his interview with TOC Asia

18 Shortly after the delivery of the Brief Grounds on 19 October 2020,

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previous decision in the current case of Gobi is demonstrably

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We refer to the statement in italics above as the “First Interview Statement”; to

19 A video recording of the Interview was published on TOC Asia’s

Statements made by Mr Ravi in his Facebook posts

20 On 20 October 2020, the DAG wrote to Mr Ravi, referring to the

[The DAG] has written to me a letter today asking me to

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

[The DAG] threatens to complaint [sic] – where else: The Law

We refer to the statement in italics above as the “First Facebook Statement”; to

22 On 22 October 2020, Mr Ravi replied to the DAG’s Letter (the “Reply

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

24 On 4 November 2020, Mr Ravi commenced HC/S 1068/2020 (“Suit

Proceedings before the DT

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

Version No 4: 24 Mar 2023 (19:11 hrs)

27 The second charge and second alternative charge pertained to Mr Ravi’s

ALTERNATIVE 2ND CHARGE

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to be accountable to Gobi and his family in court and be