SINGAPORE: On Monday, May 20, a director-general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) was jailed for a week for lying to the ministry about his desire to send expensive watches for a friend using diplomatic bags.
Last month, 45-year-old Gilbert Oh Hin Kwan entered a guilty plea to the charge of giving false information to a public servant in 2023.
Two more charges were considered at sentencing. These were to help deceive the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) regarding the expensive watches and a Panadol package sent via the diplomatic bag service.
Shortly after the sentencing, Mr. Shashi Nathan, the defence attorney from Withers KhattarWong, filed an appeal on behalf of his client.
The defence requested a fine of less than S$5,000, while the prosecution requested a fine between S$6,000 and S$9,000.
However, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz concluded that Oh’s actions had caused more harm than was reasonable for him to be imprisoned.
She acknowledged that “no actual harm has resulted” from Oh’s false statement, but added that the court’s investigation should not stop there because harm could potentially result.
According to the judge, this included the “potential to impinge on trust in Singapore’s international relationships and cause embarrassment to the MFA, if there were no redress”.
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