Outgoing Attorney-General V K Rajah lauded for sense of compassion and fairness

SINGAPORE — As Attorney-General (AG), Mr V K Rajah was known for his strong sense of justice and fair play, as well as a willingness to depart from legal benchmarks if he felt it would lead to a more just outcome, said members of the legal fraternity as they paid tribute to the Republic’s outgoing Public Prosecutor.

“V K Rajah brought a tremendous attitude of compassion and fairness to the office. He was very clearly trying to do the right thing, to honour everything we consider dear to the profession,” said Mr Thio Shen Yi, the outgoing president of the Law Society of Singapore.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced on Friday (Nov 25) that Mr Rajah will hand over the AG’s hat on Jan 14 to Mr Lucien Wong, 63, chairman and senior partner of Big Four law firm Allen & Gledhill.

Almost all lawyers TODAY spoke to remembered a case in September last year in which prosecutors appealed for an errant cyclist’s eight-week jail sentence to be reduced because it was deemed to be manifestly excessive and disproportionate — the first of its kind for Singapore’s courts. The offender, who had knocked into and injured an elderly pedestrian while he was cycling on a pavement, had his jail sentence cut to three weeks.

Noting the prosecution’s willingness to help the very offender it had earlier prosecuted, Mr Sunil Sudheesan, president of the Association of Criminal Lawyers, said: “I appreciate and respect his (Mr Rajah’s) intellectual honesty.”

Recalling the case of a schizophrenic offender he was defending, Mr Sudheesan lauded Mr Rajah’s decision to not press for caning, after reviewing the case.

“Mr Rajah was an AG who listened to both sides and did what he needed (to do)  to help ... He brought in his own brand of dynamism and ideas,” he added.

Mr Abraham Vergis, former chairman of the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, said that, for him, it was Mr Rajah’s “concern and commitment to levelling the playing field for accused persons” that stood out during his tenure as AG.

“I can personally attest to Mr Rajah’s abiding concern (in this area), particularly for those who could not afford counsel. His office strove for sentencing outcomes that were palpably commensurate (with the crime),” he added.

Describing Mr Rajah as a “compassionate AG”, lawyer Choo Zheng Xi said: “(He) made a clear distinction between crimes of need and crimes of greed, and this came across clearly in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in cases I’ve handled involving the less fortunate.”

Veteran criminal lawyer Ramesh Tiwary said Mr Rajah forged an “approachable” culture among his deputies. “You can always go up to (the prosecutors) and have a very frank discussion about the decisions they had taken. Many times, they were prepared to relook those decisions and even change their minds,” he added.

Of Mr Rajah himself, Mr Tiwary said: “He wasn’t really interested in just prosecuting. He was interested in seeing the (defence’s) side of the case ... to arrive at a just position for the prosecution to take.”

He added: “I really hope he doesn’t leave the legal profession altogether. It will be a terrible loss because he has so much to contribute ... The best place to see him would be back on the Bench.”

In a statement, the PMO said Mr Rajah “broadened the prosecutorial philosophy of the AGC (Attorney-General’s Chambers) and oversaw significant criminal cases, including the largest ever market-rigging securities case and the largest-scale money-laundering case in Singapore”.

Mr Rajah also established several inter-agency working groups to enhance existing legal processes, including one to review issues relating to youth justice in Singapore, the office added.

“Under his leadership, the AGC provided legal support for the formulation and implementation of the Government’s programmes and for the successful negotiation of significant international agreements,” the PMO said. 

“He also directed the legal work on Singapore’s negotiations with Malaysia on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail and the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System.”