MP Christopher de Souza to face professional disciplinary hearing on 31 July
Deputy Speaker of Singapore Parliament found guilty in 2022 of not making full and frank disclosure to the court
SINGAPORE — Lawyer Christopher de Souza, who is also Member of Parliament for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, will face a court hearing on 31 July that will decide on the outcome of professional disciplinary proceedings brought against him
De Souza, who is also Deputy Speaker of Parliament, was found guilty in 2022 of not making full and frank disclosure to the court when he was aware that his client, Amber Compounding Pharmacy and Amber Laboratories, had breached the conditions of a search order.
The Straits Times reported that the 46-year-old will face the Court of Three Judges, which is the highest disciplinary body for the legal profession in Singapore. If the court finds a lawyer guilty of professional misconduct, it has the power to disbar, suspend or fine the lawyer.
In 2022, a disciplinary tribunal had found that de Souza had helped his client in suppressing evidence, by preparing and filing an affidavit which did not exhibit documents that would have revealed his client had breached conditions.
On one of the five charges brought against him by the Law Society, the tribunal found that there was cause of sufficient gravity for de Souza to face disciplinary sanction before the Court of Three Judges. The other four charges were dismissed.
De Souza's lawyers had stated that they would argue before the court that the one charge should also be dismissed.
Cause of sufficient gravity to face disciplinary sanction
According to The Straits Times, the case involved Amber obtaining several documents through a search order in 2018.
The company used some of these documents to make reports to investigative agencies, and this breached its undertaking not to use them without further order.
According to the report, an internal email showed de Souza was aware of Amber's breaches even before his firm Lee & Lee took over the suit.
Despite knowing this, he helped Amber representative Samuel Sudesh Thaddaeus file an affidavit on 28 January 2019 that did not reveal the breaches.
The tribunal, comprising Senior Counsel N. Sreenivasan and Pradeep Pillai, accepted that de Souza had tried to persuade his client to make full disclosure. However, it said the conduct of the client did not free the lawyer from blame for his own failure to make such disclosure.
It found there was cause of sufficient gravity for de Souza to face disciplinary sanction before the Court of Three Judges on one charge.
Justices Belinda Ang, Woo Bih Li and Kannan Ramesh will hear the case on 31 July. De Souza is represented by Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng and Calvin Ong from WongPartnership, while the Law Society is represented by Madan Assomull from Assomull & Partners.
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