Daily Archives: 4 Nov 2009

Lawyer ordered to return $300,000 over failed deal

A BUSINESSMAN who lost his investment in a property deal and sued the lawyer involved managed to obtain $300,000 out of the $1 million invested.

Mr Satinder Singh Garcha said he was talked into investing the sum and claimed that his lawyer S. Uthayasurian, who is also known as Mr Surian, was instrumental in the loss of that money.

Among other things, Mr Singh claimed the lawyer did not tell him that the middleman involved in the deal was an undischarged bankrupt. But Judicial Commissioner Quentin Loh, who released his judgment on Monday, said Mr Singh knew this all along.

Mr Uthayasurian, who has 18 years of legal experience, has already been suspended from practising for a year by a Court of Three Judges in May, in disciplinary proceedings over the same case.

He had acted for multiple parties involved in a property development project on a 117,000 sq ft plot of land in Tanglin Hill owned by the Brunei government.

Mr Singh not only put in the money in May 2006 but also authorised an undischarged bankrupt, Mr Louis Ang, to disburse the funds.

A week later, he found that most of the money had gone to other parts of the project and legal costs.

Mr Singh, represented by WongPartnership lawyers, sued Mr Surian to get back his investment. Continue reading

IMF shares HK’s concern about asset price inflation

It hails govt move to increase land supply to the market

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday it shares Hong Kong’s concern that the city may face sharp asset price inflation and encouraged the government to look at increasing land supply for property development.

‘We share the authorities’ concerns that a credit- asset price cycle could take hold, leading to a sharp run-up in prices for certain real and financial assets,’ the IMF said in an annual report on Hong Kong.

‘While such asset price movements are part of the natural equilibrating mechanism of the Hong Kong economy, there is a risk that prices could become driven more by short-term liquidity conditions, divorced from fundamental forces of supply and demand.’

The Washington-based organisation also said it had raised its gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts for Hong Kong following a recent improvement in the economy.

It forecasts a 2 per cent decline in GDP this year, against a 3.5 per cent decline previously, and 5 per cent GDP growth in 2010, up from 3.5 per cent previously. Continue reading