Ladies and Gentlemen,
Singapore Law Watch, a Singapore Law Report,
www.singaporelawwatch.sg, of August 31, 2009 has this judgment in
the case of four foreign banks, Plaintiffs, against the Singapore
company Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Defendant. The
four Plaintiff foreign banks were Skandanaviska Enskilda Banken,
Mizuho Corporation Bank, Bayerische Hypo Und Vereinsbank
Aktiengesellschaft and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
The case involved the four banks suing the Asia Pacific Breweries
for over a $100 million for moneys lent to it, through it's Finance
Manager Chia Teck Leng who made off with it.
Anyone who knows Singapore would have been able to accurately
predict the outcome of this lawsuit merely looking at Asia Pacific
Breweries (Singapore) Pte Ltd. A search on it's website www.apb.com
shows it is joint venture with Fraser and Neave Ltd and Heineken.
For anyone who knows Singapore, a search on Fraser and Neave's
website www.fraserandneave.com would have given the answer away
immediately. It's director is none other than Lee Hsien Yang, the
son of Singapore's strongman Lee Kuan Yew. No prizes for the right
answer here! Asia Pacific Breweries won. The banks lost.
There are many outside Singapore, who wrongly think that Lee Kuan
Yew only abuses the law in human rights cases; that in commercial
cases there is impartiality. Singaporeans of course know better.
This case clearly shows that not only in human rights cases, as if
it is not bad enough, but in every type of case, the entire
Singapore judiciary is corrupt to the core. They always favor the
Lee Kuan Yew family or the Singapore government against everyone
else.
In this case, giving the case to the foreigh banks would mean Lee
Kuan Yew's son's company losing over a $100 million. Sucn an
eventuality is unacceptable in Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore, never mind
where justice lies.
And let this case be a warning to all foreigners; foreign banks,
foreign companies and foreigners with money in Singapore. The
Singapore legal system is corrupt. The Singapore's courts will
shamelessly abuse the law to favor Lee Kuan Yew or the Singapore
government against anyone else. It is impossible to get justice in
the island when you are facing either the Lee family and their
interests, or the Singapore government. And keep in mind, the Lee
family and the government's interests stretch throughout Singapore
and in every industry you can think of. Therefore beware your money
and your interests in Singapore. In a dispute, there is no
guarantee that you will see justice, as this case so clearly
shows.
And what is more, the judge in this case was Belinda Ang Saw Ean,
the same judge about whom I wrote which landed me in a Singapore
jail last year. Need we say more? You of course know that in that
case of defamation, she had ordered Dr. Chee Soon Juan to pay Lee
Kuan Yew more than $400,000.00; as if money grows on trees; merely
for criticizing him in a newsletter. Not just that, she refused to
allow Dr. Chee Soon Juan to introduce any witnesses at his trial,
deciding the case in her private chambers instead!
Another tell tale sign to predict the winner in this case are the
lawyers. Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore was represented by
Davinder Singh and Hri Kumar, Lee Kuan Yew's favorite lawyers and
the favorite law firm to boot.
Belinda's judgement in this case is very long, 110 pages to be
exact. But there is no need to read it all. The first few facts
would be good enough to tell anyone that the banks should have won,
not Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore). Chia Teck Leng was the
Finance Manager lawfully employed by the Asia Breweries. He also
happened to be a habitual gambler. He was at all times working for
the company. The company's documents acknowledged that he was the
Finance Manager. The company's documents authorized him to make
bank loans. In every way he had, what one would expect, the powers
of a Finance Manger of a company.
These four banks, one Scandinavian, one German and 2 Japanese had
no way of knowing that Chia was dishonest. And as expected of any
bank, they took the normal precautions of ensuring that the company
passed resolutions for each loan, that the articles and memorandum
indicated he was still the Finance Manager and other routine
documents for security. From the entire judgement, there is nothing
to indicate that these banks had acted in any way improper or
negligent.
Even a boy can tell you this. Asia Breweries was entirely
responsible for their actions of it's Finance Manager. If he
happened to be a crook, it is they who were responsible. These 4
foreign banks were entirely innocent, as they did not know Chia was
a crook. How could they? They were an innocent contracting
party.
But you see, everything changes in Singapore when Lee Kuan Yew or
any of his family members are involved. In Singapore, the Lee
Family never loses. How could this judge allow these foreign banks
to win even if she wanted to. But knowing what she did to Dr. Chee
Soon Juan when Lee Kuan yew sued him for defamation, we know also
know that she is corrupt to the core.
This is how Belinda Ang, Lee Kuan Yew's judge twists the law and
the evidence to favor her master Lee Kuan Yew. Her 110 page
judgement starts off with the sentence "Chia Teck Leng was an
inveterate gambler who unremittingly resorted to cheating and
forgery in order to fuel and sustain his gambling addiction".
Thoughout the long judgement she makes repeated reference to his
dishonesty, trying very hard to justify her decision which clearly
goes against the grain. And her reason for giving the case to Lee
Kuan Yew's son's company, believe it or not,was to say that the
banks had not used due dilingence when giving the loans, when
nothing in the evidence indicates that! It is simply a biased
judgment written by a baised judge.
Singapore's Minister for Law, K Shanmugam, and others in this
government have been trying very hard to throw a veil over the real
goings on there, arguing that there is rule of law in Singapore.
For anyone who knows Singapore will tell you, nothing can be
further from the truth. Your transactions and assets in Singapore
are not safe and you may lose everything if you are not careful, as
these four foreign banks have realized.
It is not just criminal law and the law of human rights that Lee
Kuan Yew abuses in Singapore. And it is not just Singaporeans whom
he abuses. Foreigners fare no better in Lee Kuan Yew's courts.
Caution is prudent.
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: [email protected]
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/
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http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2009/09/singapore-courts-abuse-law-to-favor-lee.html
Again, Gopalan is putting the onus on APB to clean house on all its
employees which is ridiculous to say the least. The four banks have
the right to sue and the judge has the right to decline the lawsuit
against an innocent party. Unless you would like to have a PI tail
all employees even on their own freetime or leisure time, then APB
doesn't not know that the Finance Manager,Chia, was an inveterate
gambler until the bank came calling on loans due.