SINGAPORE: New legislation will be tabled in parliament to reinforce the deterrence approach when sentencing all scammers and those who facilitate scams “including those who are young”, said Senior Minister K Shanmugam on Tuesday (Oct 6).
This comes after a High Court ruling in September that allowed appeals by youth offenders and sentenced them to probation and community sentences instead of a deterrent one, putting weight on rehabilitation as the primary sentencing consideration.
This rationale by the courts “contradicts the approach set out in sentencing guidelines” that recommend jail or reformative training, said Mr Shanmugam.
He was responding to a parliamentary question by Mr Christopher de Souza (PAP-Holland-Bukit Timah) on whether the government will consider additional legislative provisions for youth offenders involved in scams.
“We wanted this message to go out that every offender, young or old, will be very seriously dealt with. If a number of cases are dealt with in this way, seriously, many other would-be offenders would take reference,” said Mr Shanmugam, who is also the Coordinating Minister for National Security and the Minister for Home Affairs.
“Word will get around, and people, including young people, will be much more careful. That will make it harder for scammers to operate, and help reduce the number of victims and the losses they suffer.”
On Sept 10, a three-judge coram comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Justice Ang Cheng Hock and Justice Hoo Sheau Peng, dealt with an appeal case involving Mohamed Erzan Taib Zohri and six separate cases that also involve scams. The seven cases involved money mule offenders, six of whom were under the age of 21.
The court allowed the appeals for four cases and meted out probation and community-based sentences to them, and dismissed the remaining three.
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