Ex-MP and lawyer, Ahmad Khalis, suspended for two years
By Rita Zahara, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 21 August 2006 1658 hrs
Former Member of Parliament Ahmad Khalis Abdul Ghani has had his licence to practise law suspended for two years over charges of breach of professional duty brought against him by the Law Society.
The Court of three judges also ordered the 46-year-old to bear the cost of the legal proceedings.
That amount will be determined by the counsel for the Law Society over the next few weeks.
The Court of 3 judges comprises Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, Justice Andrew Phang and Justice Tan Lee Meng.
Ahmad Khalis appeared relieved when the sentence was passed.
After all, when a lawyer is hauled to Singapore's highest court over allegations of improper conduct, he faces the maximum penalty of being struck off the rolls.
The former Hong Kah MP was found guilty of two out of three charges.
One was for falsely attesting that he had witnessed the signing of a document allowing him to administer the Lorong Melayu estate of his client's late father, the late Mr Ali Baker, five years ago.
The other was for subordinating the interests of the beneficiaries of the estate in favour of his client.
A row started in a fight between Abdul Rasid Ali and nine siblings.
After their father died, Abdul Rasid hired Ahmad Khalis to act for him to make him the estate's sole administrator.
When a bank started proceedings to repossess the terrace house, which Abdul Rasid had used as collateral for a $200,000 loan, the other siblings flipped.
They complained to the Law Society that Ahmad Khalis did not advise them properly before convincing them to sign away their rights to the house.
They claimed Ahmad Khalis did not inform them he was representing Mr Abdul Rasid and that he behaved like he was acting on their behalf.
The judges found that Ahmad Khalis had failed in his professional obligations to the other family members.
They said he had a duty to inform them of what he was planning to do with the property.
The Court of 3 judges took into account several mitigating factors.
One of them is Ahmad Khalis' previous and outstanding contributions in the public arena.
The judges also considered glowing statements by his peers on his contributions to society.
The Court acknowledged that Ahmad Khalis had pleaded guilty to the first of the charges at the first reasonable opportunity, and that by all accounts, had accepted that he has been contrite.
It also noted there has clearly been no dishonesty on Ahmad Khalis' part and that this was the first blemish on his 20-year career at the Singapore Bar. - CNA/ir
Teh Cheang Wan
From BT, Singapore
2nd December 1998
MP Choo Wee Khiang charged with helping man to cheat
By Ven Sreenivasan
[SINGAPORE]
Choo Wee Khiang, a Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC, was
charged in court yesterday on two counts of conspiring to cheat UMBC
Finance Ltd by falsifying invoices totalling some $2.87 million.
A director of Mei Marketing Pte Ltd, a company which supplies
industrial machinery, Choo is alleged to have committed the offences
in November 1990 and January 1991. He was then already an MP, having
entered Parliament in 1988.
Choo: alleged to have falsified invoices totalling some $2.87m
------------------------------------------------------------
The first charge reads that Choo, 44, as a director of Mei Marketing,
issued an invoice for equipment sales totalling $1.18 million in
November 1990 to a Wong See Kee, managing director of Canspar (S) Pte
Ltd, when in fact there was no such sale. Wong then cheated UMBC
Finance Ltd into granting his company a $830,000 loan.
The equipment in question were six crawler cranes, three generators
and 10 welding machines.
The second charge is that Choo issued another false invoice totalling
almost $1.69 million in January 1991 to Wong, who then cheated UMBC
Finance into granting him another $1 million loan. The equipment
listed in the invoice included welding and bending machines.
Wong, 44, was also charged with both offences, together with a third
charge of deceiving Hong Leong Finance Ltd in January 1995 into giving
his company Canspar a $554,000 loan. Canspar has since been wound up.
Under the third charge, Wong presented Hong Leong Finance with an
invoice for equipment purchases totalling $840,000 from Rimco
Equipment Pte Ltd. The director of Rimco, Lim Soh Lian, 46, was also
charged on one count of cheating.
All three were produced at Subordinate Court 26 yesterday by
Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) director Lawrence Ang. Under
Section 420 of the Penal Code, they face jail terms of up to seven
years, plus a fine, for each of the offences.
Choo and Wong have each been released on $100,000 bail, while Lim was
released on a $50,000 bail.
CAD sources said investigations had been going on for several months.
The passports of all three accused have been impounded. Choo's case
and Lim's case will come up for mention on Jan 26, Wong's on Dec 8.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Former table tennis president charged with corruption
By Julia Ng | Posted: 08 December 2011 1034 hrs
SINGAPORE: The ex-president of the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) and former MP Choo Wee Khiang has been charged in court with corruption.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said from 2005 to 2007, it received several anonymous complaints against Choo, alleging that he had charged his personal airfares, expenses, phone bills to the Association and received gifts from Chinese coaches and players.
Choo was the STTA at the time of the alleged offences.
Acting on the information received, the Bureau conducted an investigation which revealed that in 2005, Choo had received S$1,500 from Liu Zhongze, who was then a national team player, and Luo Jie, who was then an assistant coach of the STTA, in return for giving Liu more opportunities to represent the Association in table tennis tournaments.
Investigation also revealed that between 2003 and 2004, Choo had received a total of US$600 on two separate occasions from Shi Mei Sheng, who was then a STTA coach, as a reward to Choo for approving the use of two different training facilities in China.
Besides Choo, the former High Performance Manager of STTA Koh Li Ping was also charged on Thursday morning.
The Bureau said between 2002 and 2003, Luo Jie, whose work pass only permitted him to work for STTA, provided table tennis training to students for a local secondary school.
But the school was unable to pay him for the training provided, which amounted to S$8,400.
Luo Jie told Choo and Koh about this.
They then allegedly arranged with the principal of the school to engage STTA in a new training arrangement with the intention to use the proceeds received to pay Luo Jie for the outstanding fees.
Subsequently, after STTA received the payment from the school, Koh obtained approval from Choo to authorise a payment of S$8,400 to Luo Jie, even though the latter did not provide any training services under the new training arrangement.
Choo Wee Khiang was charged with three counts of corruptly accepting gratification under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241) and one count of criminal breach of trust as a servant, which is an offence under Section 408 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.
Koh Li Ping was charged with one count of engaging with Choo Wee Khiang in a conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust as a servant, an offence under Section 408 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.
In 1999, Choo was sentenced to two weeks in jail and S$10,000 fine for helping a family friend to use false invoices to cheat a finance company into granting an S$830,000 loan.
- CNA/ck
By Rita Zahara, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 21 August 2006 1658 hrs
Former Member of Parliament Ahmad Khalis Abdul Ghani has had his licence to practise law suspended for two years over charges of breach of professional duty brought against him by the Law Society.
The Court of three judges also ordered the 46-year-old to bear the cost of the legal proceedings.
That amount will be determined by the counsel for the Law Society over the next few weeks.
The Court of 3 judges comprises Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, Justice Andrew Phang and Justice Tan Lee Meng.
Ahmad Khalis appeared relieved when the sentence was passed.
After all, when a lawyer is hauled to Singapore's highest court over allegations of improper conduct, he faces the maximum penalty of being struck off the rolls.
The former Hong Kah MP was found guilty of two out of three charges.
One was for falsely attesting that he had witnessed the signing of a document allowing him to administer the Lorong Melayu estate of his client's late father, the late Mr Ali Baker, five years ago.
The other was for subordinating the interests of the beneficiaries of the estate in favour of his client.
A row started in a fight between Abdul Rasid Ali and nine siblings.
After their father died, Abdul Rasid hired Ahmad Khalis to act for him to make him the estate's sole administrator.
When a bank started proceedings to repossess the terrace house, which Abdul Rasid had used as collateral for a $200,000 loan, the other siblings flipped.
They complained to the Law Society that Ahmad Khalis did not advise them properly before convincing them to sign away their rights to the house.
They claimed Ahmad Khalis did not inform them he was representing Mr Abdul Rasid and that he behaved like he was acting on their behalf.
The judges found that Ahmad Khalis had failed in his professional obligations to the other family members.
They said he had a duty to inform them of what he was planning to do with the property.
The Court of 3 judges took into account several mitigating factors.
One of them is Ahmad Khalis' previous and outstanding contributions in the public arena.
The judges also considered glowing statements by his peers on his contributions to society.
The Court acknowledged that Ahmad Khalis had pleaded guilty to the first of the charges at the first reasonable opportunity, and that by all accounts, had accepted that he has been contrite.
It also noted there has clearly been no dishonesty on Ahmad Khalis' part and that this was the first blemish on his 20-year career at the Singapore Bar. - CNA/ir
Teh Cheang Wan
From BT, Singapore
2nd December 1998
MP Choo Wee Khiang charged with helping man to cheat
By Ven Sreenivasan
[SINGAPORE]
Choo Wee Khiang, a Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC, was
charged in court yesterday on two counts of conspiring to cheat UMBC
Finance Ltd by falsifying invoices totalling some $2.87 million.
A director of Mei Marketing Pte Ltd, a company which supplies
industrial machinery, Choo is alleged to have committed the offences
in November 1990 and January 1991. He was then already an MP, having
entered Parliament in 1988.
Choo: alleged to have falsified invoices totalling some $2.87m
------------------------------------------------------------
The first charge reads that Choo, 44, as a director of Mei Marketing,
issued an invoice for equipment sales totalling $1.18 million in
November 1990 to a Wong See Kee, managing director of Canspar (S) Pte
Ltd, when in fact there was no such sale. Wong then cheated UMBC
Finance Ltd into granting his company a $830,000 loan.
The equipment in question were six crawler cranes, three generators
and 10 welding machines.
The second charge is that Choo issued another false invoice totalling
almost $1.69 million in January 1991 to Wong, who then cheated UMBC
Finance into granting him another $1 million loan. The equipment
listed in the invoice included welding and bending machines.
Wong, 44, was also charged with both offences, together with a third
charge of deceiving Hong Leong Finance Ltd in January 1995 into giving
his company Canspar a $554,000 loan. Canspar has since been wound up.
Under the third charge, Wong presented Hong Leong Finance with an
invoice for equipment purchases totalling $840,000 from Rimco
Equipment Pte Ltd. The director of Rimco, Lim Soh Lian, 46, was also
charged on one count of cheating.
All three were produced at Subordinate Court 26 yesterday by
Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) director Lawrence Ang. Under
Section 420 of the Penal Code, they face jail terms of up to seven
years, plus a fine, for each of the offences.
Choo and Wong have each been released on $100,000 bail, while Lim was
released on a $50,000 bail.
CAD sources said investigations had been going on for several months.
The passports of all three accused have been impounded. Choo's case
and Lim's case will come up for mention on Jan 26, Wong's on Dec 8.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Former table tennis president charged with corruption
By Julia Ng | Posted: 08 December 2011 1034 hrs
SINGAPORE: The ex-president of the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) and former MP Choo Wee Khiang has been charged in court with corruption.
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said from 2005 to 2007, it received several anonymous complaints against Choo, alleging that he had charged his personal airfares, expenses, phone bills to the Association and received gifts from Chinese coaches and players.
Choo was the STTA at the time of the alleged offences.
Acting on the information received, the Bureau conducted an investigation which revealed that in 2005, Choo had received S$1,500 from Liu Zhongze, who was then a national team player, and Luo Jie, who was then an assistant coach of the STTA, in return for giving Liu more opportunities to represent the Association in table tennis tournaments.
Investigation also revealed that between 2003 and 2004, Choo had received a total of US$600 on two separate occasions from Shi Mei Sheng, who was then a STTA coach, as a reward to Choo for approving the use of two different training facilities in China.
Besides Choo, the former High Performance Manager of STTA Koh Li Ping was also charged on Thursday morning.
The Bureau said between 2002 and 2003, Luo Jie, whose work pass only permitted him to work for STTA, provided table tennis training to students for a local secondary school.
But the school was unable to pay him for the training provided, which amounted to S$8,400.
Luo Jie told Choo and Koh about this.
They then allegedly arranged with the principal of the school to engage STTA in a new training arrangement with the intention to use the proceeds received to pay Luo Jie for the outstanding fees.
Subsequently, after STTA received the payment from the school, Koh obtained approval from Choo to authorise a payment of S$8,400 to Luo Jie, even though the latter did not provide any training services under the new training arrangement.
Choo Wee Khiang was charged with three counts of corruptly accepting gratification under Section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 241) and one count of criminal breach of trust as a servant, which is an offence under Section 408 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.
Koh Li Ping was charged with one count of engaging with Choo Wee Khiang in a conspiracy to commit criminal breach of trust as a servant, an offence under Section 408 read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.
In 1999, Choo was sentenced to two weeks in jail and S$10,000 fine for helping a family friend to use false invoices to cheat a finance company into granting an S$830,000 loan.
- CNA/ck
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