SINGAPORE: He wanted to help his friend resolve his
marital problems, but lawyer Dixon Ng did it the wrong way - and
got a two-year suspension for his pains.
In January 2006, Ng forged two court judgements to help
businessman Vincent Ng placate his wife. The latter was an engineer
with his own firm, JCV Consultants, and a director of RJ Crocker
Consultants.
The businessman was allegedly involved in an affair with a
Shanghainese lounge hostess who had run off with $150,000 belonging
to his wife.
Meanwhile, his two companies had filed claims against two other
firms for non-payment; Ng was the lawyer in both cases.
Ng wanted to help his friend mollify his wife by giving her the
impression that a sum close to what she had lost was coming in. So,
the lawyer created two judgements to falsely state that $120,000
was arising from the two claims. In reality, neither of the cases
reached the courts.
Two months later, Vincent Ng filed a complaint with the Law Society
against Dixon Ng about the draft judgements.
On Tuesday, the lawyer told the Court of Three Judges he had never
intended to pass the drafts off as proper judgements and had not
attempted to mislead anyone.
"I had a close friend who was being physically abused by his wife.
I had to pick him up in the middle of the night in the middle of a
road because his wife hit him while driving. And he called me,
crying," said Ng.
"I did not do this for any purpose other than to assist my friend,
whom I thought was my friend at that time."
Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong said, while he appreciated that Ng
wanted to help, it was a serious offence to create documents. "You
did not obtain any monetary benefit but nevertheless, a court
document is a court document. Anyone looking at a court document
will be influenced by it," he said.
Later, Ng told reporters that his friend had filed the complaint
because the two had fallen out over money.
- TODAY