Does the law require prosecutors to share all witness statements?

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The Law Does Not Mandate Sharing All Witness Statements in Singaporean Criminal Trials

The prosecution is not legally obligated to furnish every witness statement it intends to use in a criminal trial. This principle is rooted in Singapore's Criminal Procedure Code, which outlines the disclosure requirements for the prosecution. Specifically, Section 214(d) of the code does not compel the prosecution to file and serve statements from all witnesses slated to testify.
Conditioned Statements and Disclosure Requirements

Conditioned statements, which carry the weight of oral evidence if certain criteria are met, are not mandatorily disclosable in their draft form if a witness declines to sign them. The Criminal Procedure Code does not contain provisions that oblige the prosecution to provide draft statements in such scenarios. This distinction is significant, as it differentiates the disclosure obligations in criminal proceedings from those typically found in civil litigation, where broader discovery is often expected.
Judicial Interpretation of Disclosure Rules

High Court Judge Vincent Hoong recently affirmed this interpretation in the case involving former transport minister S Iswaran. He ruled that Section 214(d) does not extend to requiring the prosecution to provide draft statements of witnesses unwilling to sign conditioned statements. The judge found no merit in arguments that withholding these statements constituted an abuse of process or caused injustice to the defence, stating that the charges themselves sufficiently detail the alleged offences.
Sufficiency of Information Provided to the Defence

The prosecution's case, as presented, is deemed sufficiently informative for the defence. This includes the charges laid against the accused, which clearly set out the particulars of the alleged offences. Furthermore, the list of exhibits provided by the prosecution gives notice of the facts and evidence to be presented, with the relevance of many items, such as those pertaining to Formula One, being evident from their descriptions. The accused's own 66 statements, comprising numerous pages of emails, messages, and other documents, also clearly inform the defence of the evidence the prosecution intends to rely upon.

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Does the law require prosecutors to share all witness statements?

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