SINGAPORE, June 6 — Bar exam cheat Leon Tay Quan Li, who last month apologised for his actions and withdrew his application to be called to the Bar, has failed in a bid to have the documents in his legal case sealed from public view on mental health and other grounds.
The judge gave his original decision in an oral judgement at the time of the application in early May. today’s published judgement gives the full reasons for the decision. Tay had produced a medical memo from the National University of Singapore which suggested that the disclosure of his name “could trigger a severe psychiatric reaction”, said Chief Justice Menon.
Open justice generally refers to a legal rule which requires the courts to conduct their proceedings in public. On the medical memo, Chief Justice Menon described it as “sparse”, and that it was not longer than half a page.“Our courts have emphasised time and again that an expert report, including a psychiatric report, is worth nothing if it provides conclusions without presenting the underlying evidence and the analytical process by which and the reasons upon which these conclusions are reached,” he said.