Christopher de Souza, a member of Parliament, has been found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to the suppression of evidence by his clients by a disciplinary tribunal.
A lawyer, de Souza is the People's Action Party (PAP) MP for Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency and the current deputy speaker of Parliament.
The Straits Times (ST) stated that he was found guilty for his conduct while representing Amber Compounding Pharmacy and Amber Laboratories .
The tribunal determined that de Souza was informed that his client had violated the terms of a search order, but he did not inform the court in an open and honest manner.
It was determined that he assisted his client in preparing and filing an affidavit that omitted documents that would have identified the client's violation.
Amber got certain records in 2018 through a search warrant order while suing other parties for allegedly stealing trade secrets, according to ST.
Amber agreed to use the papers only for the lawsuit.
According to CNA, Amber used them to file police and other reports against the other parties.
This violated its undertaking not to utilize the documents without additional authorization.
This occurred before de Souza and his firm, Lee & Lee, took up the lawsuit. He was afterwards made aware of the violations committed by Amber.
Despite this, on January 28, 2019, de Souza supported a representative of Amber in preparing an affidavit that did not mention the breaches.
"The crux of the matter is what the respondent should have done upon discovery of the use of the documents and information by Amber," said the disciplinary tribunal, "specifically whether he should have informed the court and opposing counsel of the breach of the undertakings."
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