Trident Law Corporation

Principal / Managing Director

Mr. R. Thrumurgan has been lauded by all levels of the Singapore courts. In the landmark case of Muhammad bin Kadar & Anor v PP [2011] SGCA 32, Mr. R. Thrumurgan received high commendation from our Court of Appeal for his impassioned advocacy and meticulous attention to detail (https://tridentlawcorp.com/cases/#gallery-1):

Finally, we would like to acknowledge Mr Thrumurgan for his impassioned advocacy and the commendable conscientiousness with which he has conducted Ismil’s defence. He deserves credit for placing on the record of proceedings many of the facts we have referred to above.

The “Kadar” case (as it is commonly known) remains the longest pro bono criminal trial in Singapore’s history and introduced common law obligations on the Prosecution to disclose unused materials to the Defence. Mr. R. Thrumurgan is also the first lawyer from the Singapore Criminal Bar to have secured acquittals after trial in:

A labour trafficking case under the Prevention of Human Trafficking Act following a trial that stretched more than 36 days (Verdict: 6 May 2020) (https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/landmark-human-trafficking-case-manager-taraana-pub-acquitted-four-charges)(https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/woman-accused-of-labour-trafficking-acquitted-of-four-charges-still-faces-10); A murder case involving section 300(d) of the Penal Code (Verdict: 16 February 2016) (https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/man-who-hit-woman-and-set-fire-to-office-cleared-of-murder-guilty-of-culpable); and A drug trafficking case where our client’s defence was that she did not know the specific nature of the drugs although she had admitted to packing and organizing the sale of the drugs (Verdict: 2 September 2010) (https://tridentlawcorp.com/cases/#gallery-2).

Apart from trial work, Mr. R. Thrumurgan spends a substantial part of his time assisting corporates and individual clients when they are subject to investigations by the different agencies of the Police Force, the Commercial Affairs

Department (CAD), the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau (CPIB) and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).

Mr. R. Thrumurgan has also been engaged to represent individuals and corporations in major local and multi-jurisdictional criminal investigations concerning allegations of bribery of foreign public officials, money laundering, cheating and tax evasion by enforcement agencies from the US, Australia, Thailand, India, and Hong Kong.

He has also been widely featured in all major media in Singapore including “No ordinary lawyer would do this”, “Saviour of Death Row Prisoner”, “Priceless Lifesavers”, “Making a habit of going beyond the call of duty”, Saved 2 lives in 10 months, and Defence lawyer who never gave up on him.” Extracts of the articles are available on our website (https://tridentlawcorp.com/profile/thiru/).

Further, Mr. R. Thrumurgan was awarded the Law Society of Singapore’s Pro Bono Ambassador of the Year 2015. He has been appointed by the Minster of Home Affairs as Vice-Chairman of the Life-Imprisonment Review Board and the Long-Term Imprisonment Review Board. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore since 2016.

Other Notable Highlights:

Represented our client, the sole shareholder and a director of a minerals company, faced 5 charges for aggravated cheating, following investigations conducted by Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (“CPIB”). The allegations concerned engaging in a conspiracy with a director of a Cambodian entity to issue inflated invoices. Represented a Dutch national who was wanted by the US for soliciting at least $9 million from investment firms in New York and elsewhere in the United States. The man had also cheated victims of more than $700,000 in Singapore. Acted on behalf of the controlling director of a group of companies operating under the trade name, Club V (a leading chain of nightlife entertainment providers) in Singapore. Our client was prosecuted by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (“IRAS”) on 77 charges under section 59(2)(a) of the Goods and Services Tax Act for non-payment of Goods & Services Tax of more than S$56,934,974.00. Following a multi-year engagement with IRAS, we managed to secure a non-custodial sentence for our client. Acted for the former President of the Operations, Sales and Customized Solutions Division of Trek 2000 International Limited, the inventor of the Thumbdrive. Our client was investigated by the Commercial Affairs Department and faced three charges for cheating and falsification of accounts, to which our client pleaded guilty to. (Featured on Channel News Asia: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/trek-2000-thumbdrive-company-executive-jailed-cheating-falsifying-accounts-foo-kok-wah-3472171) Representing a former Head of Information Technology at a well-known law practice in relation to 3 corruption charges under section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The client is alleged to have accepted bribes amounting to about $23,000.00 to an IT supplier of the law practice in exchange for favouring her company over other suppliers. At his trial, the client was represented by a different law firm and was convicted. Trident Law has been retained to act for him in his appeal against his conviction. Advising a specialist engineering construction firm on allegations of having bribed senior management of the largest Japanese civil engineering and construction company in Singapore in respect of a SGD1 billion contract for the development of Changi East (Changi Airport). Advising the sole director of a company incorporated in Singapore which was part of a larger group of family-owned companies registered in various other jurisdictions. We investigated inter-company transactions between these entities over a 10-year period between 2005 to 2015 to advise our client on his culpability, if any, for potential tax evasion offences, false accounting and any resultant dealings in criminal proceeds.

Notable press mentions:

No ordinary lawyer would do this – The New Paper Lawyer making a habit of going beyond the call of duty – The Straits Times Saviour of Death Row Prisoner – The Straits Times Priceless Lifesavers – The New Paper Saved 2 Lives in 10 months – Lian He Wan Bao

English and Tamil

Vice-Chairman of the Life-Imprisonment Review Board, the Long-Term Imprisonment Review Board and Institutional Discipline Advisory Committee 4, Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore

LL.B. (Hons), National University of Singapore, 1998

Professional Qualifications:

Admitted to the Bar in 1999, Singapore