In Singapore, the Legal Aid Bureau provides legal aid, advice and assistance to persons who qualify for both a means and merits test. This applies only for civil matters and LAB does not handle criminal matters, which is handled by the Public Defender’s Office, which provides criminal defence aid.
Pursuant to section 14 of the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1995, the Court can order the legally aided person to pay the costs if:
- The Grant of Aid was obtained by the legally aided person through fraud or misrepresentation; or
- The legally aided person acted improperly in bringing or defending legal proceedings, or in conduct of those proceedings.
In Anpex Pte Ltd v Cheng Yong Sun and another [2022] SGHC 294, the Plaintiff argued that the second Defendant who had been legally aided throughout proceedings had acted improperly in defending legal proceedings and in the conduct of those proceedings. The High Court was referred to section 14 of the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1995.
The High Court said that the failure of the second Defendant’s defence in itself is not evidence of misconduct. The High Court reasoned that if a legally aided person is to be found in breach of section 14 of the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1995 merely because her defence failed, then every plaintiff who succeeds against a legally aided defendant would be entitled to costs and this cannot be so.
There must be evidence that a defendant had conducted his or her defence in such a way that a reasonable defendant would not in order to discharge the burden of proving that the legally aided defendant was in breach of section 14 of the Legal Aid and Advice Act 1995.
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