R. Shankar Gandhi & Assoc.

On the court record

R. Shankar Gandhi & Assoc. is a Malaysian firm whose reported matters before the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) and the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) are concentrated in criminal defence, including grave security and conservation offences. A significant group of appeals arises under section 26B(d) of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act 2007 (Act 670) read with section 34 of the Penal Code, matters that engage section 170 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Witness Protection Act 2009, and the special-measures regime under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA), where the evidential and procedural framework for security offences is at its most demanding.

The firm has also appeared in a conservation prosecution under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 (Act 716), arguing on appeal against conviction and sentence whether the several charges amounted to a duplicity of charges, whether the element of keeping had been proved, whether there were contradictions in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, whether the investigation was complete, and whether the sentence imposed was appropriate. That matter illustrates the firm's attention to the ingredients of statutory offences and to the integrity of the investigation and the evidence on which a conviction rests.

In the security-offence appeals the firm engaged the demanding evidential and procedural framework that governs prosecutions conducted under the special-measures regime, where the protection of witnesses and the admissibility of evidence are closely regulated. The reported profile is that of a criminal-litigation practice engaged with the most serious and specialised offences in Malaysian law, migrant smuggling prosecuted under the special-measures regime and offences under the wildlife-conservation legislation, and with the recurring appellate questions of duplicity, the proof of statutory elements such as keeping, the completeness of the investigation and the propriety of sentence. The firm's work reflects a practice defending accused persons in prosecutions where the procedural safeguards and the sufficiency of the evidence are closely contested.