Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Professional fees and moral values

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Professional fees and moral values

Several months ago, I received a letter from a big legal firm in Singapore threatening to take legal action against me for posting an article in my blog about a land banking company. The article was reproduced from the website of a UK newspaper. The article made several allegations about the operations of this land banking company that operates in Singapore.

The letter from the lawyer asked me to prove the facts that were contained in my blog. I asked if their client had written to the UK newspaper to correct the facts, but they refused to answer my question and continued to threaten and harass me.

When I related this matter to a friend, she asked the question, "Does this reputable legal firm feel ashamed of acting for a company that goes about to cheat the public?" Some time later, the legal firm suddenly dropped the matter for reasons that are not clear to me.

I now read a report about Lehman Brothers and the large fees earned by their auditors and lawyers in helping to hide the facts about the financial situation of the company during its last few months. Are the fees for these reputable firms more important than moral and ethical values?

Tan Kin Lian

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: Our economy is built too much on rent seeking (high property prices making developers rich, monopolistic competitions banking banks rich etc) rather then true improvement in quality of lives and productivity. Rent seeking causes wall street to prosper despite severe unemployment in America. Ironically with unregulated capitalisim, the society has drifted back to the dark ages of fuedalism - a previleged class.; March 16, 2010 10:15 AM
Anonymous said...: Lawyers are a tricky profession. Those murderers who are likely to face capital punishment are entitled to free legal services provided by the government.
What do you say?; March 16, 2010 10:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Let's face it: do most people study hard to become professionals in order to: (a) uphold social justice; (b) make money? I think answer is (b).

Do most parents encourage their children to study hard to become professionals in order to: (a) uphold social justice; (b) make money? I think answer is again (b).

If you are a professional, would you rather represent big financial and real estate companies (who can pay big fees and give repeat business), or represent the downtrodden, bullied consumer?; March 16, 2010 11:42 AM
Good Job said...: Some years ago after living in Singapore for many years I wrote an article on a UK land banking plot company suggesting it was a scam. I quoted many references with proof. I also contacted the Singapore authorities. I am from England and I was deeply ashamed of the way these products were being promoted and sold with no prospect of return. I regarded may action as being in the public interest and the right thing to do in a place I was proud to call home.

Some time later after leaving Singapore for a temporary assignment I received a letter threatening me with legal action at my previous Singapore home and previous workplace. The lawyers representatives also approached my customer in an threatening manner asking my wherabouts.

A UK lawyer advised me that I would win in a UK court as the Investment proposition had no realistic chance of succeeding.

When I consulted a Singapore lawyer with my "proof" they advised that things are different in Singapore and that the costs could run to hundreds of thousands of dollars if I lost which was entirely possible.

My Singapore friends asked why would I make trouble when I was not the one losing money. Let them be cheated.

I am afraid I did not have your bravery Mr. Tan. Disillusioned I removed the article and now avoid visiting Singapore.

I now believe I should have stronger and followed through as my position has been more than proven by events in the last two years.

I thank you for being strong on this issue.; March 16, 2010 11:54 AM
Anonymous said...: Good Job,
can you let us know the situation on life insurance in UK. We heard UK is taking action on commission and removing it very soon.
Is the unethical and malpractice very rampant in UK? Your FSA is very proactive and it comes down hard on errant insurers and agents too.We only hope our MAS is as brave as FSA to clean up the errant and rogue insurance agents.
Commission seems to be the cause of conflict of interest every where and it has been for a long time and no regulator seemed forthcoming to address this issue and not until millions of consumer got fleeced and aggrieved by the insurance agents for pushing them rotten products
We would be pleased to hear from you on this issue. Thank you.; March 16, 2010 2:15 PM