Saturday, June 05, 2010

Lawyers and shady practices

Dear Mr. Tan,
The land banking company that is mentioned in many blogs for failing to return the investments on maturity is being advised by a big legal firm in Singapore. This firm is headed by a well known lawyer who is also a MP. How can the Government allow the MP to be involved in advising a company that is engaged in shady practices? Is this why the relevant bodies are not prepared to investigate this land banking company, in spite of many complaints being lodged with the CAD and MAS?

REPLY
I do not know whether this MP is aware about the practices of the land banking company. Perhaps, it is another partner that is advising the company.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Conflict of interest???
Money, lah..

Anonymous said...

The article is correct & this land banking is still doing & 'capturing' new business especially from the young exec who are naive & not yet found out the truth,Now this company is using another name under Jardine...something,in case Mr Tan do not allow mention of name here.
Is also true that they are using Big Names in the legal field to represent them,& yes, the sales did mention some Big Names in Singapore who are their customers, clients & also legal advisor, all in one & truly what a 'rojak' conflict of interest...
With the claim of 250% return in their adverts both in print media and TV, m wondering how come no relevant authority is taking them to task for such claims whereas some small medium enterprise making claims of return only some 15%is taken to task!is it because they are 'foreigner'enterprise & or they are too big to fall?This company does have the money, they have made huge money nothing short of some 300million pound and what is interesting though, again, the fools are all paradise here in Asia especially,Singapore,Malaysia & Indonesia, some Hong Kong BUT i heard that they are paying up to Hong Kong people bcus of their strong law in HK?perhaps? & the great protection that HK is giving to his people..here, i wish u good luck becuz surely this regime will tell u that you should not be greedy,250% reurn?!well, big 'reward' comes big risk & "invest with your eyes open"! so, good luck and yes, One person is affliated with this organization directly or indirectly is an MP...

Anonymous said...

Actually there is nothing wrong with that, legally and professionally speaking.

A MP who is also a practising criminal lawyer can even represent a suspect murderer and fight his case in court! Nothing wrong with that.

He may also represent someone who is fighting a case with one of his voters.

After all almost all PAP MPs are part timers. They have full time jobs which they must also dedicate themselves to do it well.

If their duties and perception as MPs are negatively affected as a result of this, blame it on the system, not them.

Joshua Lim said...

The majority of MPs did not become MP to do charity. What do you expect of such MPs?

I'm also curious how much the print and television media received in advertising fees from the land banking companies.

Tan Kin Lian said...

In my view, it would be bad for any lawyer to knowingly act for a client that is out to cheat the public. It would be worse, if the lawyer is a respected Member of Parliament as the MP is expected to be an example of good moral conduct.

However, in this case, it could be that the MP is not personally involved in the case, but another partner of the firm is handling the matter.

It is a different matter for a lawyer to defend a person accused of commiting a murder. A person is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty.

Anonymous said...

It is quite open that D&N is advising the landbanking company. But whether they are paying for senior partners or just 1-yr/2-yr experience employees is another thing altogether.

Those thinking of legal battles, do read the below forum page first. There is at least 1 consumer who has successfully brought the landbanking company to task in court, and at least 1 lawyer who is familiar with their modus operandi and not afraid to go up against the big name law firm.

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2463256&page=23

Unfortunately, I expect that you will still need deep pockets to go to court.

Anonymous said...

MP are part-timers and taking an allowance of $12,500 per month.

What is their job?

i) meet people session to write letters.
ii) Go door to door once every 4-5 years.
iii) Say something during each parliment sitting
iv) Never offend the 3Ms
v) Always say something nice about PAP but takan opposition whenever possible to score points.
vi) If citizen got victimized by big banks or FIs, turn a deaf ear and become another Deaf frog.

When all these are followed, sit and wait to be re-elected from the Goon-do Singaporeans.

Hope this election, there are less Goon-do Singaporeans so that we don't have so many foreigners to take over our job until we have to struggle to survive. Worst is to get scolding from the MM for being lazy and not hardworking when flood of foreigners are cheaper, faster and better..

Wonder whether is it cheaper to have a person like President Obama to do the job of PM Lee. Advantages are:-

i) Cheaper [4x cheaper]
ii) Excellent communicator
iii) Faster
iv) and thus better.

Anonymous said...

One should never assume that a party is guilty. A person is innocence until proven guilty. Only a Judge is permitted to pronounce a person to be guilty.

Thus it is not right for a lawyer to deliberately NOT act for a particular person on the basis that the person is a "cheat" for doing so is to assume that person is guilty even before trial.

Anonymous said...

Sure, Ionescu is still innocent in the eyes of his lawyers.

Anonymous said...

Since this point is being brought up, it is interesting to take note that not only Land Banking, even in MLM etcsome companies etc claimed that they have 'so and so' in their board etc which gives consumers the assurance that it is a good company. Well if I'm 'so and so' there is money to be earned using my name, why not. Something overall not right here. Maybe we in singapore has high expectations from the authorities and are too protected that we listen blindly and get our fingers burnt. But what else can we do as in Singapore everyone wants 'fast bucks' and no consideration for our neighbours. Is there any solution??

Anonymous said...

Now I know why the authorities are not taking up landbanking investigations - their own people are involved in the scam. No wonder. Must check background of the candidates during GE, we may be his/her victim thereafter.
Can't trust politicians.

Mal said...

Mr Tan.

By the same argument another partner ought to be able to take the other side of the case. However that would be clear conflict of interest

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