Ex-lovers
TURN COLD IN
COURT
It's all
business as professor questions former student
PHOTO SHOOT: Defendant in
the sex-for-grades trial Tey Tsun Hang outside the subordinate
courts yesterday. TNP PICTURES: KEVIN CHNG
KEY WITNESS: Miss Darinne
Ko outside the subordinate courts yesterday.
REPORT: CHAI HUNG YIN
THEY were described as lovers. She bought him gifts. She was in
awe of him and declared as much.
But if you were in court yesterday, you wouldn't
have thought they were even remotely acquainted.
He threw questions at her as part of his
cross-examination. She would reply - but she wouldn't look at
him.
Miss Darinne Ko Wen Hui, now 23, is the
prosecution's star witness.
Yesterday, she half-hid behind her left hand,
avoiding eye contact with her former professor at the National
University of Singapore's law school, Tey Tsun Hang, 41.
Tey faces six charges of obtaining sexual
gratification and gifts from Miss Ko.
Again, Tey donned a lawyer's robe while he
represented himself from the dock, complete with a music stand to
prop up documents.
Once, when he addressed her as Miss Ko, she didn't
respond. He had to repeat himself.
Tey asked Miss Ko to describe what she went through
during the recording of statements by the Corrupt Practices
Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and the deal that was struck with its
deputy director of investigations, Mr Teng Khee Fatt.
Miss Ko said that on April 2 last year, she was
taken by CPIB officers from her home to their Bukit Merah
headquarters at about 6am. But no statement were recorded from her
until 9pm.
She was locked in a room. She said from 8am to 7pm,
various items were brought into the room.
She was asked by CPIB officers if she had given the
items to Tey and the reason for doing so.
She told the court: "I told them because I liked
him and we were in a relationship. They refused to believe it."
At this juncture, Tey interjected by saying "just
pause it there", to which Miss Ko retorted: "I'm not done yet."
During the more than 10 hours she was in the CPIB
room, she tried to sleep whenever she was left alone for
half-an-hour to an hour.
She was very tired, she told the court.
Whenever the officers returned to the room, they
would wake her up. This occurred throughout the day, she said.
At 7pm, one of the CPIB officers, Ms Png Chen Chen,
told Miss Ko that her boss, Mr Teng, wanted to see her. No reasons
were given.
She was taken to his office for a meeting that
lasted about 21/2 hours, she said.
There, Mr Teng told her that his officers said she
was not being cooperative.
She asked him why since she had told them
every-thing she knew.
"He said I was not cooperating because the evidence
I gave was not making up the elements of the charge against Prof
Tey.
"He told me that corruption was a two-sided offence
and he could very well decide to charge me, instead."
Indemnity
But if she cooperated, she said Mr Teng would get
the prosecution to ask the court to grant her indemnity if the need
arose.
But she said "she could not cooperate in his
definition of cooperation because my statement wouldn't hold up to
cross-examination".
Mr Teng then told her that it was "possible for him
to ask the prosecution to solely use my statements without calling
me to testify".
If she cooperated, she was told, she would be able
to "carry on with my life and begin my career upon graduation", she
said.
Miss Ko then gave in to some of Mr Teng's demands,
she said.
But she refused to note in the statement that she
wanted a favour from Tey "because I didn't acquire any favour from
Tey".
She insisted on using the phrase "not showing
disfavour".
"I told him (Mr Teng), this did not sit well with
me and I did not need any favour from anyone."
She also told Mr Teng that she bought Tey gifts
because she liked him and they were in a relationship.
But Mr Teng didn't believe her because "it was not
possible for a girl to buy a guy gifts", she said.
He didn't explain to Miss Ko why it wasn't possible
to do that.
Instead, Mr Teng suggested she bought Tey gifts to
show her favour or not show any disfavour over her grades.
After the meeting with Mr Teng, she was taken back
to the same room she was locked in earlier.
She said that she was "tired, scared and anxious
since I had a paper due the next day".
She also pleaded with the CPIB to be let out, but
was told she wouldn't be allowed out until a statement had been
recorded.
Ms Png continued asking her questions.
She said: "She (Ms Png) allowed me to rest my head
on the table until she heard footsteps outside and she would ask me
to quickly get up."
The recording of the statement took 51/2 hours
because Ms Png had to "go and check with her boss whether it was
okay".
When Ms Png left the room with a laptop and
returned with a printed statement, Miss Ko said she was "still very
tired, less scared because now I could probably go as long as I
sign it".
Finally, as 2.30am, she signed the statement which
was "within the parameters that had been agreed with Mr Teng". she
said.
Earlier yesterday morning, the prosecution
questioned her about the inconsistencies in her statements to the
CPIB and her court testimony.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Jumabhoy dealt with
other inconsistencies involving her motivation in giving Tey the
gifts - a $740 Mont Blanc pen, two tailor-made shirts valued
$236.20 and an iPod Touch worth $160.
These included her paying for a dinner hosted by
Tey, the time he called her when her results were released and her
motivation in having sex with him.
The
dispute over grades
REPORT: RENNIE WHANG and BEN NADARAJAN
DID he ever give you the impression he could shape your future?
Did you ever feel he had taken advantage of you in an intimate
relationship? Did he ever suggest he could show any favour, or that
you should give him an inducement?
Such were the questions asked of Miss Darinne Ko
Wen Hui, 23 by her former law professor Tey Tsun Hang, 41 who was
referring to himself in the third person.
Eyes averted, in a hushed tone, her reply was the
same: "No."
"The case has been dubbed the 'sex-for-grades'
trial," he said. "It's only fair for the defendant to prove in open
court to vindicate himself as regard the phrase 'for grades,'" he
said, referring to himself.
He had Miss Ko's grades written out on large
vanguard sheets. These were attached to a standing clipboard as he
questioned her.
From year 1, she had apparently "done better in
Private Law", receiving an A- in Contact Law and an A+ in Torts.
The court earlier heard she was on the Dean's List-in the top 10
per cent of her class-after Year 1, and was approached by three
professors for research assistance.
In Year 2, she got three B+s in Property and
Company Laws, and Equity and Trusts-"only one (of which) had to do
with the miserable defendant," Tey said. The "miserable defendant"
was himself.
"I was more interested in commerical law subjects
(quite early)," she said.
Internship
All internships she did during the June holidays in
her undergraduate years were in insolvency departments, she
added.
"I wanted to do insolvency law eventually."
Under Tey, Miss Ko got a B+ for Equity and Trusts -
a compulsory subject - when they first got to know each other in
2010.
She was assigned to it, she said.
"I don't think it's possible for him (to bring me
into the course conducted by him)."
For a Personal Property Law course with Tey from
August to November 2011, she got a B.
Tey produced her examination script for the subject
yesterday.
"Any secret code or message on the script between
you and the defendant?" he asked.
"No," she replied.
She also confirmed there were no allegations from
the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau that Tey attempted to
get gifts or persuade her to have sex during this period.
In that same semester, Tey awarded her an A for a
Directed Research Paper on International insolvency, which he
addressed.
"Did you at any point...suspect that the grade A
was a reward or return from the defendant?" he asked in court. She
denied this.
He then presented her with five files containing
the background research she did for him.
"Bearing in mind that the prosecution does not
believe the grades were tampered with, is this really relevant?"
Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Jumabhoy asked of the thick
files.
Chief District Judge Tan Siong Thye allowed
cross-examination on the files, but had questions for Tey: "What's
your intent? That tremendous amount of work goes into it?"
That, and to enlighten the court on the process of
research, Tey said Material in the files, it turned out; were on
five separate research topics, completed before Miss Ko started on
her 8,000-word thesis.
Miss Ko went on to do a Directed Research on cross
border insolvency under a different professor, again scoring an
A.
She didn't ever submit background research material
to the other professor, she said.
Asked if Tey allowed her an easier journey in
Directed Research, she said: "They were different, I don't know how
to compare."
Still, Tey had argued - Miss Ko had done three
subjects on corporate insolvency with three As, and all three
professors who taught insolvency at the law school had graded her
in these.
He also argued he sought to bar Miss Ko from taking
a course he offered in January last year, even though she signed up
for it.
It was on International and Comparative Insolvency
Law. His concern was possible overlap between this course and her
Directed Research under him.
He claimed he had an e-mail from him to the faculty
administration proving this.
"Would you agree with the defendant, if there's
possibility of overlap...there will be possibility of unfair
advantage to a student to do both?" he asked, also noting she
wouldn't have known if there was an overlap.
"Yes," she said.
Exchange
between accused, witness
Tey Tsun Hang was cross-examining his former student Darinne Ko
yesterday on her preference for choosing to take courses in
commercial law.
Tey: Would you agree with me that you had
discovered your interest and strength quite early, by Year 2, to be
a commercial. law specialist?
Miss Ko: I wouldn't think specialist, but I was
more interested in these subjects.
Tey: You will eventually be one (a specialist)
and your confidence will carry you far.
Later, Tey went back to this line of questioning regarding Miss
Ko's choice of taking a research paper on corporate insolvency,
which was supervised-by him.
Tey: So you had three subjects in corporate
insolvency, over three consecutive semesters, three As, three
different professors... You had always intended to specialise in
corporate insolvency.
Miss Ko: I was always interested in
insolvency.
Tey: There were only three professors who could
do corporate insolvency?
Miss Ko: Yes.
Tey: Was there anyone else at the faculty with
whom you could do another elective on corporate insolvency?
Miss Ko: I don't believe so.
Tey: Neither the defendant (himself).
Tey asked Miss Ko to read out several portions of the amended
statement she made to the Corrupt Practices lnvestigation Bureau on
May 4 1ast year.
As he went paragraph by paragraph, asking Miss Ko
to read out in court the changes she had asked for, Chief District
Judge Tan Siong Thye finally cut him off, saying: "Professor Tey,
it might be more useful for your cross examination if you asked
questions rather than asking her to read.
"Because we can all read."
ABOUT
THE CASE
MUCH of yesterday's cross-examination of prosecution witness
Darinne Ko concerned the gifts she had given her law professor Tey
Tsun Hang, who is on trial now for corruption.
Tey, 41, faces six charges of corruptly obtaining
gifts and sex. The gifts included a Montblanc peri, two tailored
shirts and payment for a group dinner. The sex on two occasions
took place in his office.
The pen - engraved with "Tsun Hang" and with "TH"
engraved on its pouch - was produced in court yesterday. Miss Ko
confirmed she had asked for the engravings and that these indicated
affection.
While Miss Ko had previously indicated that she got
him the fountain pen as a replacement for one which went missing,
he produced the "missing" Sheaffer pen.
Said Miss Ko:."I vividly remember...he said it held
special meaning because it was the pen which he used for his BCL
(Bachelor of Civil Law) exams in Oxford, and obtained a first
class."
Tey put it to Miss Ko that he had never suggested
he had lost his pen. She disagreed.
Tey also referred to an e-mail which he claimed he
sent to a third party to ask about the pen's cost.
In addition, he said the two shirts came stitched
with his name.
Tey is arguing his own case with the assistance of
his solicitor Peter Low.
He will continue questioning Miss Ko today.lhe
prosecution will also get to re-examine her testimony after he is
done.
News, The New Paper, Tuesday January 15 2013, Pg 2-3
