02/02/2024
Sometimes, timing is everything.
Lighthouse Law LLC's Adrian Wee, Lynette Chang and Matthew Low acted for Mr Rajavikraman Jayapandian in this matter involving corrupt payments over contracts worth approximately S$2million. This case is well known because one of the co-accused persons was one Goh Ngak Eng, the subject of the High Court's seminal decision in Goh Ngak Eng v PP [2022] SGHC 254.
Apart from the fact that the decision in Goh Ngak Eng sets out a 2-stage, 5-step framework for private-sector corruption sentencing, Goh's case is interesting in that he appealed against a sentence of 17 months' imprisonment and received a 37-month sentence on (his own) appeal.
What this means is that, if any of the co-accused had pleaded guilty and been sentenced before Goh filed his appeal, that co-accused person, by virtue of the application of parity in sentencing, would have received sentences much closer to Goh's original sentences. Those sentences would have been unlikely to have been disturbed unless they also appealed.
As it turned out, Goh's appeal and the High Court's decision not only provided guidance in future private-sector corruption cases, but served as a benchmark for all the co-accused in Goh's case who pleaded guilty after him.
Predictably, all the remaining co-accused received much stiffer sentences than they would have expected prior to the High Court's decision in Goh's appeal.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/keppel-fels-shipyard-corruption-refer-jobs-vendors-cut-4091511?cid=FBcna&fbclid=IwAR0FLIorZPxjBXrk8qduQ7TtY0EomgGHwnTRWSVxP8cWnIxkpIFN76TmeFg_aem_AfhbnOx1bCNyM541ZBQGBuCh6GeZtwI93661oCvE0OKjJXmTaFgablLc289JCqDA484
Rajavikraman Jayapandian's co-accused, Goh Ngak Eng, had appealed against his sentence but had it more than doubled by the High Court.
