Lawyer paints generous picture of former chairman, while casting former vice-chairman in bad light
'He had finger in every pie'
POWERFUL DECISION-MAKER?
- Refused to promote nurse because she had body odour
- Made decision to conceal Mr Durai's salary
- Misreported fund-raising costs
WELL-MEANING VOLUNTEER?
- Donated aircon system to NKF, but ended up paying $10,000 from own pocket
- Sacrificed time for NKF activities without being paid
By Leong Ching
January 14, 2007
RICHARD Yong good guy, Alwyn Lim not so good guy - this was the picture that lawyer Chia Boon Teck painted in court yesterday.
Mr Chia is acting for Mr Yong, NKF's former chairman and Mr Loo Say San, NKF's former treasurer.
While portraying Mr Yong as a conscientious, well-intentioned director and chairman who devoted 18 years to the charity, Mr Chia accused Mr Lim, the former vice chairman, of having his 'finger in every pie'.
He told the court that Mr Lim, 64, had been the chief backer of former NKF chief T T Durai and had 'on many occasions directed and/or instructed Mr Durai'.
He defended Mr Durai's high salary and saw no need for it to be disclosed, jet-setted around the world on NKF funds and agreed to the purchase of first-class tickets.
He was also involved in negotiations with Singapore Press Holdings on the terms of a settlement for a defamation suit, at one point describing the final draft prepared by SPH's lawyer as 'a piece of sh..'.
He had a say in staff remuneration and was even involved in such day-to-day matters as blocking the promotion of a nurse, said Mr Chia.
The lawyer produced a letter written by Mr Lim on 14 Apr 2000 to NKF's nursing manager, informing her that he had turned down the promotion of a candidate to senior staff nurse.
'I turned down (her application) in spite of her technical competence and strong recommendation by her supervisor because she exuded a terrible body odour.
'To be fair to her, I have directed that her promotion be deferred for a month to allow her the time to improve. Upon confirmation by her supervisor and your independent verification that she is odour-free, she can be promoted.'
This statement evoked some laughter among the public and lawyers in what was otherwise a lacklustre day.
Yesterday was day four of the NKF trial, which sees the charity suing its former directors for breach of duties. It is hoping to recover some $12 million from five parties - Mr Durai (who has conceded), former board member Ms Matilda Chia, Mr Yong and Mr Loo, as well as Mr Pharis Aboobacker, Mr Durai's business partner.
Yesterday, Mr Chia presented a rebuttal to Senior Counsel K Shanmugam's hard-hitting opening statements.
He said that his clients had acted at all times with 'good faith, integrity, honesty and due diligence'.
Mr Yong, he said, was a volunteer who performed his role as a director and chairman to the best of his ability.
He had spent 18 years at the charity, without any remuneration whatsoever, 'sacrificing evenings, weekends, public holidays and family time, tending to the many official functions and meetings for fund raising and networking'.
At one time, he tried to donate an air-conditioning system to the NKF, only to be out of pocket for $10,000 in transport and storage costs.
This happened in 2001, when he was in the process of scaling down the premises of one of his companies, and decided to donate the existing air-conditioning units to the NKF.
Mr Durai said that he would use them for dialysis centres but, 11 months later, declared that NKF had no use for them and asked for them to be taken away.
Mr Yong paid some $5,000 to transport the units and another $5,438.40 for the storage over 11 months.
Mr Chia also said that neither of his clients had wanted to keep the CEO's pay secret.
'Both Mr Yong and Mr Loo had no strong sentiments over whether Mr Durai's remuneration package was publicly disclosed or not. This issue was left largely to vice-chairman Mr Alwyn Lim to deal with as he deemed fit,' he said.
Mr Lim saw no need for salaries to be revealed. Indeed, he had advised Mr Durai not to be a director, so that his pay could be kept secret, said Mr Chia.
As the Finance Committee chairman, Mr Lim was also the person who consistently reported that NKF's fund-raising costs never exceeded 30 per cent, a fact which is now known to be untrue.
His clients, said Mr Chia, had no reason to doubt Mr Lim's reports.
Summing up his arguments, Mr Chia said that all the directors were involved in all issues and matters in one way or another.
The NKF, however, had 'for reasons best known to themselves' chosen to sue Ms Chua, Mr Loo and Mr Yong' and not the rest.
Mr Shanmugam protested that this was not relevant. 'Whatever will be Mr Lim's role I'm not sure how that affords a defence to the claim NKF brings... I am trying to make sure that we don't get lost in a series of alleyways and byways and lose focus on the main issue,' he said.
Judicial Commissioner Sundaresh Menon then explained this formed part of Mr Chia's argument that there were proper governance structures in place, and that there were other people involved in these structures.
After lunch, Mr Patrick Daniel, the editor-in-chief of the English-Malay Newspapers Division at Singapore Press Holdings testified to the chain of events which led to the SPH defamation suit.
The trial continues on Monday.
THE CASE SO FAR
ALTHOUGH Mr T T Durai - the main defendant in the NKF trial which was originally scheduled to run for eight weeks - had thrown in the towel, at least three of the other four defendants will fight on.
They are former NKF chairman Richard Yong, former honorary treasurer Loo Say San and former board member Matilda Chua.
Mr Pharis Aboobacker, Mr Durai's friend and business associate, has not responded to the suit, although the writ has been served in India.
The new NKF had hauled the five of them to court for alleged breaches of duty.
This, the NKF claimed, caused it to suffer losses and damages.
They are seeking a return of at least $12 million.
Mr Durai had, on the third day, agreed to judgment and to pay legal costs.
An assessment of the damages will likely come only after about a year.
Meanwhile, Mr Durai still faces criminal charges and that trial has been set to start from 28 Feb. That's about the time the civil suit is expected to end.
He is accused of intending to deceive the NKF by approving payments to two companies for sevices that were apparently not rendered.
The other board members have also been charged in the criminal courts, and will face criminal proceedings after the end of the current trial.
POWERFUL DECISION-MAKER?
- Refused to promote nurse because she had body odour
- Made decision to conceal Mr Durai's salary
- Misreported fund-raising costs
WELL-MEANING VOLUNTEER?
- Donated aircon system to NKF, but ended up paying $10,000 from own pocket
- Sacrificed time for NKF activities without being paid
By Leong Ching
January 14, 2007
RICHARD Yong good guy, Alwyn Lim not so good guy - this was the picture that lawyer Chia Boon Teck painted in court yesterday.
Mr Chia is acting for Mr Yong, NKF's former chairman and Mr Loo Say San, NKF's former treasurer.
While portraying Mr Yong as a conscientious, well-intentioned director and chairman who devoted 18 years to the charity, Mr Chia accused Mr Lim, the former vice chairman, of having his 'finger in every pie'.
He told the court that Mr Lim, 64, had been the chief backer of former NKF chief T T Durai and had 'on many occasions directed and/or instructed Mr Durai'.
He defended Mr Durai's high salary and saw no need for it to be disclosed, jet-setted around the world on NKF funds and agreed to the purchase of first-class tickets.
He was also involved in negotiations with Singapore Press Holdings on the terms of a settlement for a defamation suit, at one point describing the final draft prepared by SPH's lawyer as 'a piece of sh..'.
He had a say in staff remuneration and was even involved in such day-to-day matters as blocking the promotion of a nurse, said Mr Chia.
The lawyer produced a letter written by Mr Lim on 14 Apr 2000 to NKF's nursing manager, informing her that he had turned down the promotion of a candidate to senior staff nurse.
'I turned down (her application) in spite of her technical competence and strong recommendation by her supervisor because she exuded a terrible body odour.
'To be fair to her, I have directed that her promotion be deferred for a month to allow her the time to improve. Upon confirmation by her supervisor and your independent verification that she is odour-free, she can be promoted.'
This statement evoked some laughter among the public and lawyers in what was otherwise a lacklustre day.
Yesterday was day four of the NKF trial, which sees the charity suing its former directors for breach of duties. It is hoping to recover some $12 million from five parties - Mr Durai (who has conceded), former board member Ms Matilda Chia, Mr Yong and Mr Loo, as well as Mr Pharis Aboobacker, Mr Durai's business partner.
Yesterday, Mr Chia presented a rebuttal to Senior Counsel K Shanmugam's hard-hitting opening statements.
He said that his clients had acted at all times with 'good faith, integrity, honesty and due diligence'.
Mr Yong, he said, was a volunteer who performed his role as a director and chairman to the best of his ability.
He had spent 18 years at the charity, without any remuneration whatsoever, 'sacrificing evenings, weekends, public holidays and family time, tending to the many official functions and meetings for fund raising and networking'.
At one time, he tried to donate an air-conditioning system to the NKF, only to be out of pocket for $10,000 in transport and storage costs.
This happened in 2001, when he was in the process of scaling down the premises of one of his companies, and decided to donate the existing air-conditioning units to the NKF.
Mr Durai said that he would use them for dialysis centres but, 11 months later, declared that NKF had no use for them and asked for them to be taken away.
Mr Yong paid some $5,000 to transport the units and another $5,438.40 for the storage over 11 months.
Mr Chia also said that neither of his clients had wanted to keep the CEO's pay secret.
'Both Mr Yong and Mr Loo had no strong sentiments over whether Mr Durai's remuneration package was publicly disclosed or not. This issue was left largely to vice-chairman Mr Alwyn Lim to deal with as he deemed fit,' he said.
Mr Lim saw no need for salaries to be revealed. Indeed, he had advised Mr Durai not to be a director, so that his pay could be kept secret, said Mr Chia.
As the Finance Committee chairman, Mr Lim was also the person who consistently reported that NKF's fund-raising costs never exceeded 30 per cent, a fact which is now known to be untrue.
His clients, said Mr Chia, had no reason to doubt Mr Lim's reports.
Summing up his arguments, Mr Chia said that all the directors were involved in all issues and matters in one way or another.
The NKF, however, had 'for reasons best known to themselves' chosen to sue Ms Chua, Mr Loo and Mr Yong' and not the rest.
Mr Shanmugam protested that this was not relevant. 'Whatever will be Mr Lim's role I'm not sure how that affords a defence to the claim NKF brings... I am trying to make sure that we don't get lost in a series of alleyways and byways and lose focus on the main issue,' he said.
Judicial Commissioner Sundaresh Menon then explained this formed part of Mr Chia's argument that there were proper governance structures in place, and that there were other people involved in these structures.
After lunch, Mr Patrick Daniel, the editor-in-chief of the English-Malay Newspapers Division at Singapore Press Holdings testified to the chain of events which led to the SPH defamation suit.
The trial continues on Monday.
THE CASE SO FAR
ALTHOUGH Mr T T Durai - the main defendant in the NKF trial which was originally scheduled to run for eight weeks - had thrown in the towel, at least three of the other four defendants will fight on.
They are former NKF chairman Richard Yong, former honorary treasurer Loo Say San and former board member Matilda Chua.
Mr Pharis Aboobacker, Mr Durai's friend and business associate, has not responded to the suit, although the writ has been served in India.
The new NKF had hauled the five of them to court for alleged breaches of duty.
This, the NKF claimed, caused it to suffer losses and damages.
They are seeking a return of at least $12 million.
Mr Durai had, on the third day, agreed to judgment and to pay legal costs.
An assessment of the damages will likely come only after about a year.
Meanwhile, Mr Durai still faces criminal charges and that trial has been set to start from 28 Feb. That's about the time the civil suit is expected to end.
He is accused of intending to deceive the NKF by approving payments to two companies for sevices that were apparently not rendered.
The other board members have also been charged in the criminal courts, and will face criminal proceedings after the end of the current trial.
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