SINGAPORE – Two National University of Singapore (NUS) law graduates, who were caught for plagiarism in the same examination while they were undergraduates, took different paths when they applied to be admitted to the Bar in 2023.

One fully disclosed her wrongdoing in her admission application, while the other did not.

Ms Stasia Ong Pei Qi’s decision to come clean caused her admission to be deferred for five months, but she was eventually called to the Bar on Feb 27, 2024.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon found that her voluntary disclosures reflected her willingness to right past wrongs and represented a “very significant step in her rehabilitation”.

He said in written grounds issued on March 8: “Her conduct in this regard sets a positive example of what aspiring lawyers should strive for in such circumstances.” 

On the other hand, Ms Shahira Banu Khaja Moinudeen did not declare the plagiarism incident and was called to the Bar on Aug 22, 2023.

But her academic offence was discovered by the Attorney-General’s Chambers, which filed an application on Oct 23, 2023, for her to be struck off.

On March 12, Ms Shahira was struck off the rolls by the Court of Three Judges – the highest disciplinary body for the legal profession – which also ordered that she cannot be reinstated for at least four years.

Giving brief oral reasons for the striking-off, the Chief Justice said that while plagiarism was a serious matter, it was not, in and of itself, something that would have put an end to her aspiration to become a lawyer.

The Chief Justice said she made the original mistake worse, first by not disclosing this fact in her affidavit in support of her application for admission.

Then, after the application was filed to strike her off, she suggested that her error had come about because the form found on the website of the Singapore Institute of Legal Education (Sile) did not specifically mention the need to disclose academic offences.

The Chief Justice added that when it was pointed out to Ms Shahira that Sile had e-mailed all applicants to highlight the disclosure requirements, she claimed not to have read that.  

“The respondent’s conduct in the course of her admission application and then subsequently in response to this application for striking off was much more serious than her original misconduct,” said the Chief Justice.

He said Ms Shahira lacked insight into her ethical duties as a lawyer, and in particular of the duty of candour to the court and to the stakeholders.

The court, which also comprised Justices Steven Chong and Andrew Phang, will issue detailed grounds at a later date on the duty of candour to the court that is owed by a lawyer and by an applicant for admission.

On April 28, 2020, Ms Ong and Ms Shahira, who were then second-year law students, sat a take-home examination where the answers were typed.

They were among four students who used text from the sample essay of a senior student in answering one of the questions.

The NUS law faculty convened an inquiry on May 22, 2020.

Ms Ong initially lied that she had “accidentally” submitted the “wrong” document.

She said that she had been working on two versions of the essay on her computer – one had slight amendments, while the other was one she was “working to amend afresh”.

Ms Shahira said she thought that she would be able to use sample texts if the seniors had given their consent.

The two were found to have committed plagiarism, and given zero marks for that question. Their wrongdoings were filed as internal disciplinary records.

In March 2023, Ms Ong confessed to NUS that she had lied during the inquiry. Her grade for the affected module was revised from C to D, and she was issued a warning letter.

The two separately filed their applications for admission in May 2023.

In Ms Ong’s affidavit in support of her application, she owned up to the plagiarism and untruths. 

The Attorney-General and Sile sought a five-month deferment for Ms Ong to reflect on her actions. The Law Society of Singapore did not object to her admission.

The three entities are the stakeholders involved in the admission of lawyers. None of them objected to Ms Ong’s admission after her deferment period ended on Jan 20, 2024.

Separately, the Attorney-General wrote to NUS on Aug 8, 2023, for more information because Ms Ong’s disciplinary record suggested that other students were potentially investigated over the same exam.

On Aug 25, 2023, the school provided the Attorney-General with Ms Shahira’s identity, and on Oct 4, 2023, sent across her disciplinary record and other documents.