This blogger is another of those publicity seekers with a dwindling eyeball count.
What a pity Bloomberg is sensationalising this. Pathetic, Andrea and Douglas...
Bloomberg News, sent from my Android phone
Singapore made blogger Au Waipang apologize for posting allegations the city's judicial system is biased and a plastic surgeon received special treatment from the courts, charges the government called "contemptuous."
The city's Attorney-General threatened to charge Au, also known as Alex Au, with contempt unless the blog post was taken down, and a letter from the Attorney-General and an apology were posted.
British author Alan Shadrake was convicted of contempt of court in November 2010 for his book, "Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore's Justice in the Dock," which accused the city's judiciary of succumbing to political influence and favoring the rich over the poor. He was sentenced to six weeks in jail, fined S$20,000 ($16,000) and ordered to pay S$55,000 in costs to the prosecution.
Au didn't respond to an e-mail seeking comment. He told the Singapore Straits Times that he wasn't going to stick his neck out for something he couldn't prove.
Woffles Wu, a plastic surgeon, was fined S$1,000 last month for having an employee take the blame for his two speeding offenses in 2005 and 2006. Au had implied Wu was "treated favorably" by being charged under the Road Traffic Act instead of the criminal code, according to a statement issued yesterday by the Attorney-General's office.
In a June 18 blog "Woffles Wu Case Hits a Nerve," Au wrote that police, prosecutors and judges are "indulgent towards the well-connected," the Attorney-General's office said in a July 6 letter to Au.
'Scurrilous' Allegations
"The serious allegations, which are scurrilous and false, scandalized the courts," the Attorney-General's office said in yesterday's statement. "His allegations of judicial bias in relation to the Woffles Wu's case were also based on a number of distortions of the facts of the case."
The doctor could have been jailed for as long as one year and fined as much as S$5,000 if he was convicted under the criminal code for providing false information to the police. Wu's charge under the traffic laws carries a maximum fine of S$1,000 and a jail term of as long as six months. Both sections of the traffic act and the criminal code had the same maximum penalties before 2008, the Attorney-General's office said.
Au took down the post and put up the July 6 letter from the Attorney-General's office as well as an undated apology.
"I apologize for committing that act of contempt," Au said in the apology, which was drafted by the Attorney-General's office. "I will not in future put up any post to the same or similar effect."
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Tan in Singapore at atan17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Douglas Wong at dwong19@bloomberg.net
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