Charge withdrawn against lawyer accused of duping legal institute

A lawyer who was earlier charged with engaging in a conspiracy to dupe the Singapore Institute of Legal Education (Sile) had his cheating charge withdrawn in a district court yesterday.

Sarbrinder Singh Naranjan Singh was given a discharge amounting to an acquittal, which means the 50-year-old Singaporean cannot be charged again with the same offence.

The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) said in a statement: "The defence had raised new evidence for the cheating charge, including statutory declarations from Mr Singh's clients which Mr Singh only provided to the prosecution about 12 months after the charges were preferred. The (discharge amounting to an acquittal) was applied for after further investigations into the evidence."

Singh, who was from a firm called Kertar Law, is now at Sanders Law. He had been accused of working together with law graduate Shree Manish Kalra Jeetender Kumar Kalra, now 28, to cheat Sile in 2016.

Kalra's case is still pending. It will be mentioned in court on June 7.

The AGC said the prosecution has applied for Kalra to also be given a discharge amounting to an acquittal over his cheating charge.

Kalra is accused of submitting to Sile a letter which Singh had allegedly signed.

It allegedly contained false information that Kalra had received the "necessary supervised training" at Kertar Law between Oct 11, 2015, and April 11, 2016.

Singh, who was first charged in 2019, told The Straits Times the past two years had been "an extremely challenging and stressful time" for him.

"The charge affected my life, reputation and business... I told my clients I am innocent and will clear my name in court," he said. "Those who knew me had faith in me. Unfortunately, my firm's business was still affected, but I remained strong and tried to keep positive at all times. I am a strong believer in the rule of law. I believe that justice will prevail, sometimes delayed but delivered in the end."

Singh still faces five charges against him. They are: two counts of perverting the course of justice, as well as one count each of criminal intimidation, using as genuine a forged document and employing a foreign worker without a work pass.

His lawyer S.S. Dhillon told the court yesterday that he will be claiming trial to these five charges.

Singh is now out on bail of $40,000 and his case has been adjourned to June 3.