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However, in Singapore the CAD is part of the Ministry of Finance, which gives it immediate access to commercial knowledge and information not commonly available to police forces.Neither are CAD officers simply a bunch of calculator-toting accountants. It is seen as an opportunity to show the world that Singapore has not lost its grip, that it is at least as good as anywhere else at handling such matters, that rules will be enforced, that malpractice will not be tolerated.The trial marks the conclusion of an impressive mobilisation of resources to find out what happened: in this respect Singapore’s inspectors appear to have dug deeper than those appointed by the Bank of England.The Singaporeans are good at sorting things out. The government has managed to maintain this aura of confidence around the island by an emphasis on law and order and stability.It was not surprising, then, that the authorities were almost apoplectic with rage when they discovered that the unlawful trading which triggered the collapse of Barings had taken place within Singapore’s borders.The trial of Nick Leeson has therefore become something more than a simple criminal matter. “You unwind this, you will not drop on soft paddy fields, it is hard, hard concrete, your bones are broken and it’s kaput.”To prevent everyone going kaput, stern punishment is meted out to those who break the law. The thud of the executioner’s trap door can be heard almost every Friday at Changai Jail where those convicted of murder, drug-running and some eight other crimes are hanged. Canings of vandals, rapists and other offenders, including housebreakers, are routine.With no natural resources and very little land space, the government has sought to establish Singapore as an international financial and service centre. Multinational companies have flocked to Singapore, seeing it as an efficient, crime-free, orderly base from which to conduct business in some of the more unpredictable parts of the region where corruption is rife, law and order dubious, and the water never safe to drink.

“We got one little island – 600 square kilometres,” he told the 1981 National Day rally in a typical tour de force speech. Its unique blend of capitalism and state control has produced a garden-city environment and a standard of living unimaginable two decades ago.Lee Kuan Yew fears that all these material gains will disappear if the controls are eased. This image is self-consciously on display during elections when the leaders of the ruling People’s Action Party clad themselves in simple white shirts and trousers.The policies of the government are tough and the laws of the land are tough because that’s the way Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s grand old man, likes it. Even though he is now supposedly taking a back seat as the “Senior Minister”, Mr Lee’s fears and hopes remain the guiding force of the nation.Under Mr Lee’s leadership Singapore has become one of the most economically successful countries in the world. Singapore’s government has gone out of its way to present a squeaky-clean image. On the contrary, foreign investors flock to this tiny island state because they admire its stability and rule of law.

What linked the 22 people arrested was the social work they were doing on behalf of foreign domestic workers.Despite these chilling exercises of legal power, Singapore does not have a reputation as a society of arbitrary justice. Yet Singapore’s most famous political prisoner, Chia Thye Poh, was detained for 22 years without ever being charged or tried. He was released in 1989 and confined to the tiny island of Sentosa, where he remains.Neither is Singapore reticent in using the draconian powers of the Internal Security Act, inherited from the British, as a means of combating alleged subversion. In 1987 a group of so-called Marxist plotters were rounded up and thrown in jail allegedly for attempting to overthrow the government. “It was all too easy for them to sway a jury.”Habeas corpus, the concept of preventing detention without just cause, has been considerably eroded in Singapore, although the constitution makes clear that unlawful detention is not allowed. Trial by jury was steadily eroded from 1960 and finally abolished in 1969 A Singaporean court reporter recently explained the reason “We’ve got some clever chaps here,” he said. The language of the courts is English, the forms of address are British and many of the laws are drawn from the British statute books.
Yet the similarities only serve to underline the differences.

Indeed, much of the Singaporean legal system is superficially British. The lawyers bustle about in wigs and black gowns, which look a lot neater and cleaner than the musty garb of the Old Bailey. . When Nick Leeson, the rogue futures trader, enters Singapore’s Subordinate Court Number 24 this morning he will find himself in fairly familiar surroundings There is a distinctly British feel about the courts. Just as it seemed the door was opening on a revived television career, she was forced to retire through ill-health in 1988. Her sister, the variety actress Iris Sadler, appeared in the Granada Television sitcom Nearest and Dearest.Anthony HaywardJoan Frances Willi (Joan Francis), actress: born 1 April 1920; married Jack Isherwood (one son; marriage dissolved), Geoffrey Reed (marriage dissolved); died Manchester 22 November 1995..