SINGAPORE — A former Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) investigator who fabricated two police reports to weasel out of a mistake he had made tried to challenge his conviction today (May 15) by pinning the blame on his superior.

However, a High Court judge was unconvinced by Low Vins’ account, although he did not agree with the prosecution’s proposal to increase his three-month jail sentence.

Low, 27, had been found guilty, after a five-day trial, of lying that CNB officers had paid visits to two drug offenders’ homes but could not find them. His lie was to cover up his mistake in extending the duo’s bail, which exceeded the CNB’s internal rule of completing investigations within 60 days.

What the then-CNB investigation officer at Bedok Police Division should have done was to arrest the offenders and remand them in the drug rehabilitation centre. By lodging the false reports, the two cases were transferred to the courts and taken off his plate.

In appealing his conviction today, Low’s lawyer Amarick Gill Singh cast doubt on the testimonies of prosecution witnesses, in particular, that of his client’s former team leader Vasanthakumar Pillai.

Mr Pillai, who administered the drug offenders’ bail extension under Low’s instruction, had contravened the CNB’s 60-day rule on a “disturbing number of occasions”, he argued.

Mr Singh questioned if Mr Pillai had extended the bail on his own accord instead. He went further to accuse Mr Pillai of ordering Low to lodge the false reports, pointing to how they were made “a mere minute” after Mr Pillai had returned to the police station that day.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Wen Hsien retorted that the witnesses’ evidence had remained “unshaken and intact” under intensive cross-examination, and added: “In an attempt to save his own skin, Low had no qualms about making scurrilous accusations against the prosecution’s witnesses.”

In pressing for a sentence of six months’ jail for each of the two charges, Ms Tan said Low had abused his knowledge and position as a law enforcement officer to commit an offence that adversely affected the reputation of key institutions within the criminal justice system.

In dismissing both appeals, Justice Tay cited the apex court’s finding last month that a blanket approach in jailing all public servants who lie is inappropriate.

Given Low’s young age at the time of offence, and the fact that the drug offenders were not wrongly convicted, Justice Tay found a three-month imprisonment term sufficient.