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Aug 14, 2009
Cheated by rogue lawyer <!--10 min-->
Brothers' signatures were forged; court deletes rogue lawyer's name from title deed after 5-year battle <!-- headline one : start --> <!-- headline one : end --> <!-- Author --> <!-- show image if available --> <!--<tr><td>
View more photos
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</div> </td></tr>--> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr></tr> <tr> </tr> <tr> </tr> <tr> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2" class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold">By K.C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent </td></tr> <tr valign="bottom"> <td width="330">
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Rogue lawyer Sivakolunthu forged documents to take possession of the Sim brothers' property (seen here) and mortgaged it for $700,000. -- ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN
</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table> <tbody><tr><td> <div class="vclearleft">
View more photos </div> </td></tr> </tbody></table> CHEATED of their property when their lawyer forged their signatures to seize ownership, three brothers had to come up with another $700,000 to prevent the bank from selling off the building.
<table valign="top" align="left" width="200"> <tbody><tr><td class="padr8"> <!-- Vodcast --> <!-- Background Story --> <style type="text/css"> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </style> <div id="related" class="vclear"><div class="quote"><div class="headline">Proposed safeguards</div> <div class="text">THE Law Ministry had made several recommendations to protect monies entrusted to lawyers by buyers and sellers of properties.
On Tuesday, it proposed that all payments for property deals will, in future, be held by the Singapore Academy of Law or commercial banks, and not law firms.</div> <div class="text" align="right"> ... more</div> </div>
</div> </td></tr> </tbody></table> On Thursday, their five-year-long plight finally ended when the High Court ordered the rogue lawyer's name to be removed from the property title deed and replaced by their names instead. The brothers, Mr Sim Chiang Lee, Mr Sim Sien Tong and Mr Sim Ah Ban, now in their 50s and 60s, were partners and shareholders in a family business that included provisions, hardware and realty.
Their ordeal began in March 2004 when then lawyer Sivakolunthu Thirunavukarasu, now 51, forged their signatures and transferred ownership of a factory they had purchased to her name. Among other things, Sivakolunthu drafted documents that made out that the three brothers had sold the premises in Chai Chee to her. To cover her tracks, she included one of the brothers, Mr Sim Chiang Lee, as co-owner with her. The forged documents stated that Sivakolunthu owned 75 per cent of the property - worth $1.4 million - while the remaining 25 per cent was supposedly in Mr Sim Chiang Lee's name.
The lawyer then mortgaged the property to a bank for a $700,000 loan by forging Mr Sim Chiang Lee's signature, and skipped town in May that year. She is still on the run. In August 2005, after her fraudulent work was uncovered, the bank acted on the mortgage default and the brothers had no option but to pay up or see the bank sell off the premises. The bank took its case to the High Court, which confirmed it had a valid mortgage, which could be enforced. The brothers contested the move all the way to the Court of Appeal where they lost and have yet to settle the legal costs of the move. One small compensation was the brothers were entitled to the rent from the building, which had been leased from the time Sivakolunthu was found out. They received $226,000 in January this year.
Altogether Sivakolunthu swiped $2.4 million from more than a dozen victims in early 2004, by mortgaging four properties, but the Sim brothers suffered the most. They lost $1.2 million as she also swiped $500,000 which they paid into the clients' account of the law firm she worked in.
[email protected]
Aug 14, 2009
Cheated by rogue lawyer <!--10 min-->
Brothers' signatures were forged; court deletes rogue lawyer's name from title deed after 5-year battle <!-- headline one : start --> <!-- headline one : end --> <!-- Author --> <!-- show image if available --> <!--<tr><td>
<div class="border_dbl2_bn"">
</td> <td width="10">
Rogue lawyer Sivakolunthu forged documents to take possession of the Sim brothers' property (seen here) and mortgaged it for $700,000. -- ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN
</td></tr> </tbody></table> <table> <tbody><tr><td> <div class="vclearleft">
<table valign="top" align="left" width="200"> <tbody><tr><td class="padr8"> <!-- Vodcast --> <!-- Background Story --> <style type="text/css"> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </style> <div id="related" class="vclear"><div class="quote"><div class="headline">Proposed safeguards</div> <div class="text">THE Law Ministry had made several recommendations to protect monies entrusted to lawyers by buyers and sellers of properties.
On Tuesday, it proposed that all payments for property deals will, in future, be held by the Singapore Academy of Law or commercial banks, and not law firms.</div> <div class="text" align="right"> ... more</div> </div>
</div> </td></tr> </tbody></table> On Thursday, their five-year-long plight finally ended when the High Court ordered the rogue lawyer's name to be removed from the property title deed and replaced by their names instead. The brothers, Mr Sim Chiang Lee, Mr Sim Sien Tong and Mr Sim Ah Ban, now in their 50s and 60s, were partners and shareholders in a family business that included provisions, hardware and realty.
Their ordeal began in March 2004 when then lawyer Sivakolunthu Thirunavukarasu, now 51, forged their signatures and transferred ownership of a factory they had purchased to her name. Among other things, Sivakolunthu drafted documents that made out that the three brothers had sold the premises in Chai Chee to her. To cover her tracks, she included one of the brothers, Mr Sim Chiang Lee, as co-owner with her. The forged documents stated that Sivakolunthu owned 75 per cent of the property - worth $1.4 million - while the remaining 25 per cent was supposedly in Mr Sim Chiang Lee's name.
The lawyer then mortgaged the property to a bank for a $700,000 loan by forging Mr Sim Chiang Lee's signature, and skipped town in May that year. She is still on the run. In August 2005, after her fraudulent work was uncovered, the bank acted on the mortgage default and the brothers had no option but to pay up or see the bank sell off the premises. The bank took its case to the High Court, which confirmed it had a valid mortgage, which could be enforced. The brothers contested the move all the way to the Court of Appeal where they lost and have yet to settle the legal costs of the move. One small compensation was the brothers were entitled to the rent from the building, which had been leased from the time Sivakolunthu was found out. They received $226,000 in January this year.
Altogether Sivakolunthu swiped $2.4 million from more than a dozen victims in early 2004, by mortgaging four properties, but the Sim brothers suffered the most. They lost $1.2 million as she also swiped $500,000 which they paid into the clients' account of the law firm she worked in.
[email protected]
