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A private legal firm was appointed as the coordinator for Singapore’s anti-haze probes, instead of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), as it can go into a foreign jurisdiction, Senior Minister K Shanmugam said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He was responding to a question from MP Sylvia Lim (WP-Aljunied) on why the AGC was not tasked with the coordinating role, despite having a division devoted to international affairs.<\/p>\n
“The answer is very simple. They may not be able to exercise their powers in a foreign jurisdiction because they would be treated as Singapore government agencies, and it’s quite likely that they would not even be given access to the country, let alone conduct investigations,” said Mr Shanmugam, who chairs the Homefront Crisis Ministerial Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it had to be structured as the companies appointing private firms to do the work \u2013 investigative firms, law firms, and others are now the companies’ appointees, and therefore they will have the ability to go into foreign jurisdictions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Law firm Davinder Singh Chambers has been appointed to advise on coordinating the work to make sure the necessary inquiries and investigations are properly conducted across different jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
“Countries may still find excuses for not allowing them, but it is less likely that they will be prevented from accessing foreign jurisdictions,” said Mr Shanmugam, who is coordinating minister for national security.<\/p>\n
The government had to think about this carefully, and structure it \u201cvery carefully and quite elegantly\u201d, so as to avoid issues relating to other countries, he added.<\/p>\n
Mr Shanmugam, who is also home affairs minister, said the assessors’ reports would be made available to government agencies, and the AGC would look at them to see what further actions can be taken in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Ms Lim also asked about who will foot the bill for the coordinating law firm.<\/p>\n
In response, Mr Shanmugam said that it would be paid for by the companies under investigation, as it is “treated as doing the work on behalf of all the companies”.<\/p>\n
“It is only right that the taxpayers ought not to be paying for it. It ought to be paid by the companies, and provision has been made for that,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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