High Court rejects Iswaran's bid to compel prosecution to provide witness statements

A High Court judge has rejected a bid by former transport minister S. Iswaran to compel the prosecution to provide conditioned statements of all 56 witnesses it has lined up for his upcoming trial on 35 charges.

- Selina Lum

A conditioned statement is a mode of giving evidence in a written statement, rather than oral testimony, often to expedite court proceedings.

The prosecution has said that since it does not intend to rely on conditioned statements for Iswaran’s trial, none were recorded from the witnesses, and, thus, none were provided to the defence.

In other words, all the prosecution witnesses will be put on the stand to give oral testimony through questioning, first by the prosecution and then the defence.

On July 19, in dismissing Iswaran’s application, Justice Vincent Hoong found that the law requires the prosecution to provide conditioned statements of witnesses only when it intends to admit such statements at the trial.

The judge said the words of the relevant provision under the Criminal Procedure Code are “clear and unambiguous” – that the prosecution need only disclose the statements of witnesses that it intends to admit at the trial.

“Conversely, if the prosecution does not intend to admit any such statements at the trial, it is not required to file those statements,” he said.