Singapore Courts abuse the law to favor the Lee Kuan Yew family in a commercial case. Skandinaviska, Mizuho, Bayerische, Sumitomo vs APBS

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
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Email: nair.gopalan@yahoo.com
Blog: http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/

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