Yong Vui Kong may escape death penalty

SINGAPORE — Convicted Malaysian drug trafficker Yong Vui Kong may escape the death penalty after the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) said today (Sept 18) that he had “substantively assisted the Central Narcotics Bureau in disrupting drug trafficking within and outside Singapore”. In a statement, the AGC said that Yong and Subrashkaran Pragasam will be the first two persons awaiting capital punishment to receive certificates of substantive assistance under the amended Misuse of Drugs Act. The AGC said that it today informed the respective counsels for Yong and Subrashkaran that the public prosecutor will certify to the High Court of their substantive assistance to the CNB. The AGC said that it will leave the sentencing of both men to the court, if they are able to prove “on a balance of probabilities that they were traffickers who only played the role of couriers”. Yong, 25, was found guilty of possessing over 42gm of heroin in June 2007. His case has attracted international attention with his counsel, Mr M Ravi, asking Malaysia to bring his case to the International Court of Justice in 2010. Subashkaran, 29, was sentenced to death in October last year for possession of heroin. The Misuse of Drugs Act was amended in November last year to give judges discretion in sentencing for some drug-trafficking cases. The death penalty was previously mandatory in all drug trafficking cases.