SINGAPORE - The Attorney-General has applied for orders against human rights lawyer M. Ravi for contempt of court over his conduct during two separate court proceedings before the High Court and the State Courts in November last year.
The first case involves former bus driver Chua Qwong Meng, who is suing SBS Transit for alleged unfair work practices.
The second is a criminal case involving Magendran Muniandy, a Malaysian, 33, accused of forging various documents, including a visit pass and a letter supporting an extension of his long-term visit pass.
The Attorney-General Chambers (AGC) said in a statement on Tuesday (Feb 22) that it also filed two disciplinary complaints to the Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) against Mr Ravi and Mr Cheng Kim Kuan of K K Cheng Law.
The AGC said that it believed Mr Ravi made unfounded allegations of bias against the judges, persistently interrupted the judges in the course of the proceedings, took legal positions in Mr Chua's case without obtaining or confirming his client's instructions, and misrepresented his availability to conduct the proceedings in Magendran's case.
The AGC added that the High Court and the State Courts made separate complaints to the Attorney-General in December last year regarding Mr Ravi's conduct.
"Following careful consideration of the complaints, on Jan 7, the AGC filed applications for leave to apply for committal orders against Mr Ravi for contempt of court," said the AGC.
The High Court granted leave for both cases, and applications for committal orders against Mr Ravi for contempt of court were filed on Feb 18.
Hearing dates for the applications have not been scheduled yet.
AGC said it also filed two disciplinary complaints with the Law Society against Mr Ravi and his supervising solicitor, Mr Cheng.
These relate to alleged misconduct by Mr Ravi in his conduct of legal cases as well as alleged breaches by both men in their professional undertakings to the Supreme Court of Singapore and the Council of the Law Society with regard to the conditions imposed on Mr Ravi's practising certificate for practice year 2021/2022.
The complaints are pending before the Law Society.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Mr Ravi said he was not surprised by the move and that he had prepared himself for this day.
In December, LawSoc said that Mr Ravi, who has bipolar disorder, must stop practising law for six weeks after receiving a medical certificate from his attending psychiatrist.
LawSoc said this is a safeguard in Mr Ravi’s conditional practising certificate, which was granted in 2019.
Among the other conditions, Mr Ravi has to stop practising law if his attending psychiatrist prescribes at least three days of medical leave within any period of 14 calendar days.
