According to him,” The prosecutor is meant to apply the law and commute the sentence based on the facts and the costs of the case.”
” He is not bound by what events submit. He has a right to disagree that the prosecution’s higher limit is too small, or the defense’s lower limit is also high in any given situation.
Mr Chooi, who just left Mr Eugene Thuraisingam’s law firm to set up his own namesake company, said the trial has judgment solely in terms of what expenses are preferred.
The judge is supposed to be assisted by the prosecution and the defense in the punishment exercise when this discretion is exercised, but he is not bound to take those claims, according to Mr. Chooi.
Andy Yeo, a seasoned attorney with his own process Andy Yeo Chambers, said he was surprised by how much more severe Justice Hoong had imposed than what was demanded by both edges.
But, Mr Yeo- a former administrative officer and assistant people prosecutor- felt that the judge’s decision was justified.
” I think Justice Hoong is justified in what he sees as a case to establish as a law for punishment and apparent signaling for any subsequent events,” said Mr. Yeo, who has a background in business management and white collar crime.
He added that the court in this case was evidently indicating its critical opinion of the crime and that it was unusual for a judge to establish a word higher than what the parties had requested.
” Given that there was no precedent, I thought that this in turn afforded the court a good opportunity to lay down what will be a clear decision on what it perceives to be a most serious case in terms of culpability, ( compared with ) the amount of gifts involved, ( and ) how ( the offence ) had arisen”, said Mr Yeo.
Sunil Sudheesan, a lawyer for the criminal defense team Sunil Sudheesan, said the judge probably “wanted to lay down a marker for public workers” and that such a move is” never seen frequently.”
Mr. Adrian Wee, managing partner at Lighthouse Law, described the court’s” settled rules” as” moved rules” because it has the choice to commute sentences higher or lower than the proposed amounts.
” However, in practice this is not common”, said Mr Wee.  ,
According to him, accused people typically choose to pursue a particular course, taking into account the prosecution’s position on sentencing and their likely sentence. ” An accused person may not be as confident in their likely sentence as they do”
Mr. Wee argued that the court’s decision to take public statements into account during the course of the case was also significant.
Iswaran had initially released statements in which he defended his innocence and denied the allegations.
Although it was unusual for the court to take into account such statements, Mr. Wee argued that the court should take into account Iswaran’s claim that he had intended to plead guilty right away.