Suspension bridge collapses at Xinjiang tourist attraction, killing 5
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CNA
3 hours ago
- CNA
Wake Up Singapore founder can be admitted to the Bar despite KKH defamation case, says chief justice
SINGAPORE: A lawyer linked to the criminal defamation of KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) involving a fake miscarriage story has been given the green light to be admitted to the Bar. Mr Ariffin Iskandar Sha Ali Akbar, a 28-year-old Singaporean, was fined S$8,000 (now US$6,230) by a court in August last year for defaming the hospital by publishing a false account submitted by a woman from Myanmar on the Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) website. Mr Ariffin, who founded WUSG and is better known simply as Ariffin Sha, is a legal executive who has worked with other lawyers such as Mr Gino Hardial Singh and Mr Eugene Thuraisingam. He was also a candidate for the Singapore Democratic Party in this year's General Election. According to a judgment released on Friday (Aug 8), the attorney-general (AG) and the Singapore Institute of Legal Education (SILE) had objected to Mr Ariffin's application to be admitted to the Bar because of the KKH case. The AG and SILE said Mr Ariffin was not "capable of being entrusted to aid in the administration of justice as an advocate and solicitor without the risk of undermining public confidence". Mr Ariffin was WUSG's sole administrator at the time of the offence in March 2022, and he was convicted of criminal defamation and fined, said the AG and SILE. OBJECTIONS BY AG, SILE The AG argued that while the defamation offence did not involve dishonesty, it was "incompatible with the values which the legal profession stood for, namely integrity, probity and trustworthiness". The AG contended that Mr Ariffin was "plainly negligent in failing to verify the allegations as against KKH before publishing them", despite knowing that doing so could harm the hospital's reputation and cause grave public concern over the state of Singapore's hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The AG likened Mr Ariffin's conduct to that of Mr M Ravi, who had acted without due care when he made statements to the court which he ought to have known were untrue. Furthermore, Mr Ariffin ought to have known the importance of ascertaining the truth before making public allegations, especially since he had worked in law firms since November 2019, said the AG. SILE similarly submitted that the nature of the offence was relatively serious and that only a short time had passed since his conviction and punishment. In particular, it highlighted that the offence was committed against a public hospital and had a ripple effect of spreading falsehoods about KKH, since the story was picked up by multiple news outlets and served to "erode trust" in the hospital. The Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) did not object to Mr Ariffin's admission, saying the offence was "not one of serious gravity and did not involve any dishonesty". CHIEF JUSTICE'S DECISION Both the AG and SILE, as well as LawSoc, agreed that the issue in Mr Ariffin's case was not one that affected his character, said Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon. Mr Ariffin had disclosed what happened when applying for admission, and all three stakeholders noted that he was "cooperative and remorseful" throughout the admissions process, noted the chief justice. He said there had been no suggestion by any of the stakeholders that Mr Ariffin presented any character issue that stood in the way of his being admitted to the Bar. "Indeed, he voluntarily disclosed his involvement in publishing the article and demonstrated remorse when the article was later retracted," said Chief Justice Menon. "He also showed his willingness to take responsibility for his actions. He apologised to KKH privately by email, published a retraction of the story and issued an apology to KKH on WUSG's Facebook page. He had also assisted with police investigations and disclosed all the material facts relating to the incident. He had left his sentence in the hands of the court and paid his fine on the same day," he said. The chief justice noted that Mr Ariffin was aware that the story was a fabrication only two days after he published the article. "The complaint that can be laid against Mr Ariffin was not that he had acted dishonestly, but rather, that he had failed to exercise due care to ascertain the veracity of the story before he published it," said Chief Justice Menon. He said that while what Mr Ariffin did was "wholly unsatisfactory", this remained an offence of "a lack of care, rather than knowing falsehood or indifference to the truth". He also noted the positive steps taken by Mr Ariffin to re-establish his suitability for legal practice after being convicted, including supporting lawyers in pro bono and community work. He thus found that Mr Ariffin was a fit and proper person in terms of character and that his application for admission could go ahead. Mr Ariffin was represented by Mr Eugene Thuraisingam and Mr Ng Yuan Siang. According to the public hearing list, he will be called to the Bar on Aug 13. In the same judgment allowing Mr Ariffin to be admitted to the Bar, the chief justice found two others to be not fit and proper for admission due to character issues. They had committed plagiarism. He ordered their applications to be stayed for 18 months and three years, respectively, from July 2025. In response to a request from CNA for a statement, Mr Ariffin said he was "humbled and honoured". "I hope to use this privilege of practice to serve the community and help those in need. I would like to thank the honourable court, the stakeholders, my lawyers from Audent Chambers and Eugene Thuraisingam, and my mentors in law. I will do my best to make them proud," he said.
CNA
5 hours ago
- CNA
Apex court dismisses appeal by man convicted of sexually assaulting his wife in first such case
SINGAPORE: The Court of Appeal on Friday (Aug 8) dismissed the appeal of a man convicted of sexually assaulting his wife, finding that the trial judge was right to convict him and sentence him to eight years' jail and six strokes of the cane. At the time, it was the first case that considered a spousal relationship and whether it could give rise to the abuse or breach of trust in sexual offences, after marital immunity for rape was fully repealed in Singapore in January 2020. The 39-year-old man had claimed trial to two charges of sexual assault by penetration against his wife on Jul 13, 2020. He also contested one count of obstructing justice in October 2020, by trying to get his wife, now 40, to withdraw the allegation against him. Neither can be named due to a gag order protecting the wife's identity. The man was convicted of all charges. On Friday, his lawyers, Ms N K Anitha and Mr Vinit Chhabra, tried to urge the court to dismiss the conviction and to allow them to present fresh evidence to show that the wife was not a credible witness. DEFENCE CITES "HIGHLY SEXUAL" NATURE OF RELATIONSHIP Ms Anitha's arguments centred on the wife's evidence, highlighting "inconsistencies" that made it "dangerous" for the court to convict the man. The wife has since served divorce papers to him in prison. The lawyer urged the court, comprising Justices Tay Yong Kwang, Belinda Ang and Woo Bih Li, to consider the "highly sexual nature" of the couple's relationship. At the time, they had been married for more than eight years, and to expect sexual intimacy between a married couple to be "predicated by express consent" is "contrived and unrealistic", she said. However, the court pointed out that the context was different this time because the husband had just moved back to stay with the wife after a period of separation. Ms Anitha responded that her client had access to the house, and had been sneaked in by his wife on at least eight to 10 occasions for them to have sexual intimacy. This was over and above them going on family trips and being sexually active, she said. Justice Tay said there was "obviously some strain" at the time, as the wife had initially refused to let the man return home and agreed only after intervention by other family members. Ms Anitha argued that the wife had "demonstrated a readiness to tailor her evidence to suit her narrative", with a medical report for certain injuries being inconsistent with her claim of being punched many times. Justice Tay said the main issue in the hearing was whether the sex was consensual. While the wife may have been inconsistent on other things, the crux was whether she was consistent in saying the sex was without consent. The defence argued that their client believed his wife had consented based on "good faith", and based on his own interactions with his wife, which was the only context in which he could understand her. The defence also asserted that the wife had a motive as she always intended to have sole custody, care and control of their two children, and to restrict the man's access to them. In response, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jane Lim said none of the alleged inconsistencies by the wife affected her credibility or her account regarding consent. The woman had been consistent in her account of how she did not give consent, from closing her legs to her husband, telling him to stop and saying "stop violating me". UNANIMOUS DECISION After hearing arguments, the court gave a unanimous decision dismissing the defence's appeals against the conviction and sentence, as well as rejecting the application to present fresh evidence. Justice Tay said fresh evidence should not be admitted at this appeal, because it would not have an important influence on the results. This was because the man's contentions are premised largely on the assumption that the "unusually convincing" standard of proof applied to this case. This is in a situation of a sexual offence where it is only the victim's word against the accused, and the victim's evidence must therefore be "unusually convincing" - a legal standard with a high threshold to meet. However, Justice Tay said this standard does not apply here as the wife's evidence was not the sole basis for the conviction. There was corroborating evidence in the communications between the man and his sister, in the first video-recorded interview with the police on Jul 14, 2020, and in the statement he gave to the police on Jul 15, 2020. The apparent inconsistencies raised by the defence pertain to "minute details in relation to the penetration charges" and do not detract "in any way" from the woman's assertion that the penetration had taken place without her consent, said Justice Tay. The court found that the sentence of eight years' jail and six strokes of the cane did not appear to be wrong in principle or manifestly excessive. The man, who sat in the dock in his prison outfit as he had been remanded for a period of time, showed little reaction to the verdict. His loved ones in the public gallery had their hands in prayer poses. They were allowed to speak to him before he was taken away.
Straits Times
6 hours ago
- Straits Times
Intel CEO Tan Lip-Bu dogged by decades of China chip investing, board work
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Intel's CEO Tan Lip-Bu's efforts to distance himself from Chinese investments accelerated with his appointment as Intel's chief executive officer. For more than three decades, Mr Tan Lip-Bu invested in the Chinese economic boom, placing the kinds of no-brainer bets that enriched venture capitalists and fund managers around the world and across the US. He set up a venture firm called Walden International based in San Francisco that pumped more than US$5 billion (S$6.4 billion) into over 600 companies. More than 100 of those investments were made in China, including deals with once-obscure start-ups such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International – today China's largest chipmaker – where he served on the board for a decade and a half. In recent years, as US-China tensions escalated, Washington increasingly restricted Beijing's access to advanced technology and placed tighter limits on the ability of US companies to do business there. And Mr Tan's efforts to distance himself from Chinese investments accelerated with his appointment as chief executive officer of Intel in March, when he agreed to divest his holdings there, according to a person familiar with the arrangement. That has not stopped US lawmakers – and, now, US President Donald Trump – from holding Mr Tan's past Chinese affiliations against him. Mr Trump called the executive 'highly conflicted' in a social media post and urged him to resign . Intel has responded that Mr Tan and the board are 'deeply committed to advancing US national and economic security interests' and said they would further engage with the administration. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business Who loses the most from Trump's tariffs? Who wins? Business SGX posts highest full-year earnings since listing, quarterly dividend of 10.5 cents a share World Israel security Cabinet approves plan to seize Gaza City Singapore Four Certis officers charged after allegedly receiving over $9,700 in bribes from man Opinion At 79, Liew Mun Leong has no time to be sentimental Singapore Student found with vape taken to hospital after behaving aggressively in school; HSA investigating Singapore CDC and SG60 vouchers listed on e-commerce platforms will be taken down: CDCs World Trump urges 'conflicted' Intel CEO Tan Lip-Bu to resign immediately Here is what we know about Mr Tan's business dealings in China. Walden He started work at a venture capital firm in the 1980s called Walden Ventures, where he helped create a spin-off named Walden International that focused on overseas opportunities. Mr Tan, who was born in Malaysia and speaks Mandarin, helped the company make investments all over East Asia, including China. He pushed some of Walden's funds into the then-unfashionable area of chip investing. Most venture capitalists had moved away from the industry, figuring that it was impossible to challenge giants such as Intel with start-up money. But Mr Tan played those odds. Today, the executive is still chairman of Walden International. And he is the founding managing partner at Walden Catalyst Ventures, which focuses on investments in the US, Europe and Israel. He also serves in that role at another venture fund, Celesta Global Capital. Mr Tan and Walden have faced scrutiny for China-related investments before. In 2023, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent Walden a letter expressing concerns and seeking more information on the types of companies and amount of investments it made there. SMIC Headquartered in Shanghai, SMIC was founded in 2000 as an early attempt to bring advanced chip-making to China. Walden International was one of the big investors when the start-up raised US$630 million from a group of venture firms in 2003. Mr Tan was a director on SMIC's board until 2018. The Chinese company, whose customers at one time included Qualcomm, is attempting to break into the outsourced chip production business dominated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). In 2020, that effort took a serious blow when the US Commerce Department put SMIC on the so-called entity list, citing ties with the Chinese military. That means businesses need licences to supply the Chinese company with technology. The move effectively cut it off from crucial US vendors. Today, it is a key partner to major Chinese sector players including Huawei Technologies. Cadence Mr Tan stepped out of the venture world and joined the chip industry full-time when he became interim head of San Jose, California-based Cadence Design Systems in 2008. The executive, who had previously served on the board, went on to take the permanent CEO job the next year. He stayed in the role until 2021, when he transitioned to executive chairman, and is widely credited with restoring the company's fortunes. In late July 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a plea deal that cost Cadence more than US$100 million in fines. Employees at Cadence's China unit allegedly hid the name of a customer – the National University of Defence Technology – from internal compliance in order to keep supplying it. That organisation had been put on the Department of Commerce's blacklist in 2015. The Chinese university was one of a group of supercomputer operators there that had conducted simulations of nuclear explosions, the DOJ said. Cadence got a 20 per cent reduction of the statutory maximum fine because of its partial cooperation with the investigation, according to the DOJ's statement, which did not mention Mr Tan. Still, his connection to the company was cited this week by US Senator Tom Cotton, who wrote to Intel Chairman Frank Yeary questioning whether what happened at Cadence under Mr Tan's tenure makes him fit for his current job. Current status Mr Tan spent time on the boards of other Chinese companies, such as Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment. But he does not, according to Bloomberg data, currently serve on a board of any company based in that country. Though Walden International has invested in more than 100 Chinese companies over the years, that involvement has been scaled back, according to PitchBook. Walden International, Walden Catalyst Ventures and Celesta now just have stakes in a handful of companies based in China, including Hong Kong, the site shows. BLOOMBERG
