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David Chua Kok Tee Sues DBS Bank

Hans168

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Loyal
Interesting case which I have been thinking many times - what happen if 1 day a bank tell us ,no you did not have this money, no record. Then how ?

i had a bank told me that one of my acct was closed but I dun recall
Anyway since small beers there I decided to ignore although I really wanted to take on another bank for giving fucked up advise in unit trust investment by their RMgr who just graduated from NUS............... he made his 5 % upfront commission n I los 45% or 80k over 13 years. Bank CEO told me if not happy raise issue with ??? can't remember name of institution given.................. When fighting banks or similar giant one must have real deep pocket!!
 

halsey02

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Nothing fishy about this. For these type of people $136K is pocket change, even in the 1980s. These kind of people would have more than one accounts in DBS, and many accounts in many banks. for him to forget about $136K is understandable. And he is quite well known too. If the account was closed in the 90s or even early 2000s by DBS, a simple google search and public records search, would have found him. Also, if he had other accounts with DBS, they can sure track him. A big shot like him would have been assigned a private banker anyway. U telling me that with all this information I described out there, no one contacted him or place a call to him directly or to his company office? the smoking gun is that he still has the receipt. If he withdrew the money as claimed by DBS, the receipt would be in DBS's possession, not his.

That is why I am saying this is "fishy", for a person of his standing, would have a PRIVATE BANKER, or someone here doing banking for him privately. Must have signed authorising letter for whoever to transact on his behalf....may have found one deposit receipt, after so many years that was unaccounted for that he he has "just" found & asked the bank...Damn Bloody Stupid bank....after so many years, play "tai chi" with him & must have pissed him off with there, " show you the rules" thing..rules are rules, we all know right!. We rarely read the fine print right...never.

It is still "fishy".....I have been in private banking before & done banking privately too...that is all I can say. "fishy"
 

po2wq

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
... The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the territory's de facto central bank, said it was taking "a very serious view of this matter" and would keep a close eye on how DBS resolves it ...
in sinkielan, hkma's counterpart wud kip a closed i on how dey resolf it ...
 

chootchiew

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
i had a bank told me that one of my acct was closed but I dun recall
Anyway since small beers there I decided to ignore although I really wanted to take on another bank for giving fucked up advise in unit trust investment by their RMgr who just graduated from NUS............... he made his 5 % upfront commission n I los 45% or 80k over 13 years. Bank CEO told me if not happy raise issue with ??? can't remember name of institution given.................. When fighting banks or similar giant one must have real deep pocket!!

Looks like the other bro is right to keep inside ovaltine tin :biggrin:
 

CoffeeAhSoh

Alfrescian
Loyal
CAD Files A Case of 4D and fraud
A Case of 4D and fraud
Reports by
Wong Wei Kong (Business Times 9 Feb 2004)
CASE SUMMARY: Fraud on bank
CHONG Seah Wee was a customer service officer at HSBC's Tanglin Branch in charge of the banking counter operations and cash section.
Authorised to approve withdrawals of up to $100,000, Chong would write the names and particulars of either existing bank customers or fictitious ones on the back of debit vouchers and then hand the vouchers to the cashier on the pretext of making withdrawals for clients.
In all, he systematically siphoned $12.6 million over a period of close to five years from 1997 to January 2002. After taking the money, Chong, a compulsive gambler, would bet heavily on 4D, spending as much as $500,000 a week. He was convicted and sentenced to 12 years' jail in 2002.
A bank was cheated of millions, the evidence filled an entire room from floor to ceiling, and over 1,400 counts of cheating charges were filed against one person - a record in the history of the Commercial Affairs Department. In many ways, the Chong Seah Wee and HSBC case was a landmark, and a challenge to crack, as WONG WEI KONG finds out.
COULD anyone be so lucky? Chong Seah Wee, also known as David Chong, was defying the odds. During a two-year span beginning from 1999, he collected over $20 million in 4D winnings from Singapore Pools. It seemed too good to be true. And sometime in 2001, CAD was informed of Chong's huge winnings, and decided to investigate.
The job was given to Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Richard Wong and his team of officers from the Financial Investigation Division of CAD, supervised by Ian Wong. Other members of the team were Lim Huey Yong, Chan Tuck Wei, Koo Maylyn, Christopher Liu and Ismail Othman.
As the team got together to conduct a preliminary analysis of the case, they knew right from the start that the investigation would not only be interesting but also challenging.
The first task was to compile a profile of Chong, a customer service officer with the Tanglin Branch of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC). He had been with HSBC since 1984, having joined the bank as a clerical staff. The check on Chong's background quickly raised a red flag with the investigating team. Despite his large 4D winnings, Chong lived humbly. A father of two young children, Chong and his family stayed in a 5-room HDB resale flat in Pasir Ris. He was not involved in any company or business, and his lifestyle was far from lavish.
Surely someone who had won large amounts of money would be spending the money on property, cars and other luxury items? In Chong's case, his family did not even own a car. Can someone be winning so much money from 4D and not be spending it? The investigating team was convinced that something was amiss and felt that Chong's lucky streak at 4D could be connected to some sort of criminal conduct.
There was still a million-dollar question confronting the CAD team: was it possible for someone to win so much money from 4D on a weekly basis? Chong had certainly proved that it was possible. The challenge faced by the team was thus to establish how Chong managed to do so.
Many theories

Several theories were considered and debated. The first theory, which was eliminated quickly, was that the 4D lottery run by Singapore pools was rigged. However, after an in-depth review of the procedures in place at Singapore Pools and numerous discussions with Singapore Pools officers, ASP Wong and his team came to the conclusion that there were simply too many checks and balances in the lottery system for it to be rigged.
The second theory was that Chong was part of a money laundering or underground betting syndicate who purchased winning tickets from the public. This was a strong possibility but money laundering is usually for the purpose of legitimising wealth. In this case, Chong had no obvious signs of wealth. Furthermore, investigations into Chong's background and personal life did not suggest that he was linked to any underground betting syndicates.
Since the lottery was not rigged, and Chong's winnings were not linked to syndicated betting or money laundering, the team was faced with the possibility that he was a genuinely lucky person. At that point in time, the investigating team had yet to confront Chong and there were no indications to suggest that Chong was in fact cheating HSBC of millions of dollars. Therefore, as suspicious as Chong's 4D winnings appeared to be, it could not be ruled out that Chong was truely lucky, or that he had somehow managed to predict winning lottery numbers.
Still, despite the lack of evidence, ASP Wong was convinced that there was something fishy. As much as everyone would like to believe that it was possible to strike it rich at the lottery, common sense indicated that it was simply not possible for this to be happening. The investigating team decided to interview Chong. In January 2002, Chong was asked to come down to CAD for an interview, which was conducted by ASP Wong.
Chong seemed to sense the reason behind the interview and came prepared, bringing a thick stack of 4D betting slips. During the interview, he appeared calm and explained to ASP Wong that he had chanced upon a winning formula for the 4D lottery and would bet on a set of 'lucky numbers' for each draw.
ASP Wong did a quick mental calculation of the 4D bets and estimated that the stack of 4D betting slips Chong brought was worth over $50,000. Being a seasoned police officer with over 15 years of investigative experience, he sensed that Chong was evasive and was withholding the truth.
Following his instincts, ASP Wong played a cat-and-mouse game with Chong, asking tough questions which Chong simply could not answer. In the end, Chong confessed that he had siphoned money from HSBC to bet on 4D and was immediately arrested by CAD. In fact, Chong was cheating the bank up to the very day that CAD arrested him.
At first, ASP Wong and his team estimated that Chong had probably took a couple of million dollars from the bank. To uncover what took place, the investigative team obtained all the credit and debit vouchers issued at HSBC Tanglin Branch from 1997 to 2002. Those documents, when delivered from the warehouse, occupied an entire operations room at CAD, from ground to ceiling.
Over three long weeks, ASP Wong and the investigating team painstakingly ploughed through the voluminous bank records and documents. The findings were staggering. In all, Chong had systematically siphoned off $12.6 million over a period close to five years from 1997 to January 2002.
After taking the money, Chong, a compulsive gambler, would then bet heavily in 4D, spending as much as $500,000 a week on bets. That was why he could win so much money from 4D.
But how did he do it? The investigators found that Chong had worked his way up the bank and knew how to beat the system. As a customer service officer at HSBC's Tanglin Branch, he was in charge of the banking counter operations and cash section.
Authorised to approve withdrawals of up to $100,000, Chong would write the names and particulars of either existing bank customers or fictitious ones on the back of debit vouchers and then hand the vouchers to the cashier on the pretext of making withdrawals for clients. He knew that the counter staff would not verify the particulars on the vouchers.
To cover his tracks, he also made out credit vouchers to balance the books. As Chong had to issue these fictitious credit vouchers on a daily basis, he worked almost all the time during the five-year period, seldom taking any vacation leave. Chong began small by taking relatively small amounts of between $1,000 and $2,000. However, caught in a vicious circle of needing more money to cover his gambling losses, he started taking larger sums, about $200,000 a day.
After his arrest, the investigating team managed to trace and recover more than $680,000 worth of shares, $205,000 in six bank accounts and $160,000 in two fixed deposits. The shares and money came from his lottery winnings and were repaid to HSBC. Still, the bank lost some US$5.6 million.
12 years in jail

In total, Chong was slapped with 1,415 counts of cheating and a money-laundering charge of converting some of the stolen funds to shares. This was by far the most number of charges against an accused person in the history of CAD. He was eventually prosecuted with 19 charges of cheating and one money-laundering charge. Chong was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on May 10, 2002.
While CAD's timely intervention stopped the audacious bank fraud by Chong and prevented further losses to HSBC, the case exposed several internal auditing weaknesses in the banking sector.
According to CAD, bank officers were generally given too much autonomy without adequate checks and balances in place - Chong's knowledge of the inner workings of the bank's counter operations enabled him to come up with a scheme to beat the system.
To deter frauds by employees, CAD said banks should re-examine their internal control systems to prevent any losses through employee frauds, assign two signatories, instead of one, for approving accounting vouchers, conduct periodic surprise checks to ensure that bank officers are not in possession of unnecessary pre-signed documentation, provide appropriate job training for staff, increase audit checks, and train internal auditors to detect fraud.
For their part in cracking the case, ASP Wong and the investigating team received the Commissioner of Police Commendation. 'The fact that this case was solved owed no small part to the expertise and competence of the investigating team led by ASP Wong,' said CAD.
'Chong led a miserable life trying to sustain his crime spree and support his gambling habit. For almost five years, he was caught in a vicious circle of siphoning money from his company to cover his ever rising gambling losses,' said ASP Wong.
'If he had not attempted to beat the system in the first instance, he wouldn't be caught in such a plight
 

maxxi

Alfrescian
Loyal
My friends mother had opened an account 26 years ago.Last week she found the old passbook when she ask the bank about the account they said 'closed'.
 

Sinkie

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Banks make mistakes and there are many cheats and con-men working in the banks, from counter staff all the way to higher management.

You can smell something fishy when you step into any bank........and it has nothing to do with the smelly pussies. It's something more sinister and it's your money they're eyeing all the time.

Just be alert. Be careful.

To say that 4-D and Toto are not rigged, it's already a dead-giveaway. These games are always rigged. It's so clear and obvious. Against any odds, it's extremely difficult to win top price in Toto, but you see that happening every draw and most times, more than one person win the top price. Fishy? Betcha!!!

KNNBCCB!!!!!
 

Bubble

Alfrescian
Loyal
Interesting case which I have been thinking many times - what happen if 1 day a bank tell us ,no you did not have this money, no record. Then how ?

COULD THIS HAPPEN TO OUR CPF MONEY???
I also told friends there is every possibility,he they say govt would not do that.well what if after 15 yrs,same pap but diff pm or mp run the country?

Due to failed investment or having someone like that chap in Asia brewery..

That's why we should not be too trusting with NOW govt...LATER may not be good enuf to avoid temptation to touch 5.5 citizen $$$
 

CoffeeAhSoh

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Loyal
This case throws up many questions. How much offshore funds from people around S E Asia and beyond lies within S'pore's banking system and has remained unclaimed over several decades, perhaps even half-a-century? I suggest it would probably be substantial because S'pore has always played the role of (and has been seen as a) safe haven within a turbulent S E Asia. And, unlike many other countries, S'pore banks have have always allowed almost anyone from abroad to open an account even if they are non-resident. Heirs of those people who come across FD receipts, savings account books etc, if they were to approach the banks about their forebears deposits what would they be told? What happens to accounts dormant (but not closed) for 20, 30, 40, 50 years? Do banks retain hard copies of accounts opened during the pre-digital age? Do they have a cavernous basement for that? Probably not, as space is at a premium in S'pore. Is there a statute of limitations on dormant accounts even if they contain millions of dollars? A statute of limitations on dormant accounts plus the terms & conditions for opening and maintaining accounts would probably be favourable to banks in any legal tangle.



yup . many years ago there was this case also.


15-year battle over $130m A long family dispute over a multi-million-dollar fortune left by Indonesian oilman Achmad Thahir.

Court dismisses widow's appeal in Pertamina case THE Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed, with costs, an appeal by the widow of a former Pertamina employee to keep US$8l.8 million (SSI23 million) m Asian Currency Unit deposits, held m their joint names m the Sumitomo Bank here. In December 1992,


A SENIOR Pertamina official, Haji Achraad Thahir, died in 1976, leaving US$Bl.B million in Sumitomo Bank in Singapore
 

CoffeeAhSoh

Alfrescian
Loyal
This chap collected over 20 million in winnings...he only stole 12.6 million....doesn't tally.

This is another one kena baotoh by Singapore pools....lam cheng fong was the other one.






COULD anyone be so lucky? Chong Seah Wee, also known as David Chong, was defying the odds. During a two-year span beginning from 1999, he collected over $20 million in 4D winnings from Singapore Pools. It seemed too good to be true. And sometime in 2001, CAD was informed of Chong's huge winnings, and decided to investigate.






David Chua Kok Tee should consult David Chong Seah Wee
 

Hans168

Alfrescian
Loyal
My friends mother had opened an account 26 years ago.Last week she found the old passbook when she ask the bank about the account they said 'closed'.

I had one while working in Jurong decades ago with Chartered Bank...... somehow forgotten about it but now the bank is closed
Can I claim from MAS????
 

PoliticalDialogue

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Loyal
yup . many years ago there was this case also.


15-year battle over $130m A long family dispute over a multi-million-dollar fortune left by Indonesian oilman Achmad Thahir.

Court dismisses widow's appeal in Pertamina case THE Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed, with costs, an appeal by the widow of a former Pertamina employee to keep US$8l.8 million (SSI23 million) m Asian Currency Unit deposits, held m their joint names m the Sumitomo Bank here. In December 1992,


A SENIOR Pertamina official, Haji Achraad Thahir, died in 1976, leaving US$Bl.B million in Sumitomo Bank in Singapore


This is exactly the issue. I've always wondered how is it possible that some banks keep regularly posting record profits when economic conditions are anemic and interest rates are low which does not allow for much margins. It makes me wonder whether money in accounts left dormant for the past 20, 30, 40, 50 years are simply appropriated because they are deemed "inactive" for a protracted period. Banks should publicly set out their policy on long dormant accounts.
 
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