The paper could have simply said "Three months jail for former CLP exam director for tampering with 2001 results" but nooo.... it chose to add the capitalised word "ONLY" into the heading. Now, what other inference can we make?
theSun said Sessions Court Judge Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal had handed down two three-month jail sentences on the guilty former examination director of the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) Khalid Yusoff - the first for tampering with the July 2001 CLP examination results and the second for misleading the Legal Profession Qualifying Board in approving the results, the sentences to run concurrently - but allowed him a stay of execution pending appeal.
"I should make it clear that if not for the stirring mitigating circumstances (by Counsel), a substantive term of imprisonment would have been imposed," said Harmindar. What happened was that during mitigation, Khalid's counsel Jagjit Singh broke down when he pleaded that his client be spared a prison sentence.
Nevertheless, the judge had this to add pointedly:
"To my mind, any reasonable person in your shoes with even a quarter of your experience, qualifications and career that you have would know that the methods you employed in this case cannot possibly be right. How is it possible for a candidate who has achieved only 15 marks out of 100 be considered to have passed.
"I think it is time for you to take responsibility for your own actions. To put it in crude terms, no one put a gun to your head when you were carrying out your functions. Your predecessor had alerted you to the pitfall that may befall you in the discharge of your duty. In the final analysis, a man with a distinguished career as yours should know and did in fact know that you had to act in a manner beyond reproach."
Trust me, The Sun is just being fair. What goes around, comes around.
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