|
|
|
OA's
office incompetent and unprofessional: CSJ
05
Feb 07
Dr
Chee Soon Juan took the stand today when his trial resumed and
accused the Official Assignee's (OA) office of being incompetent
and unprofessional.
He is charged with attempting to leave
Singapore without permission because he has been made a bankrupt
by Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Goh Chok Tong after he failed to pay
them $500,000 in damages following a defamation suit.
Led
by his lawyer, Mr Alfred Dodwell, during evidence-in-chief Dr
Chee told the court that in the brief time of less than a month
when he applied for permission to visit Turkey for a conference,
no less than six officers from the OA's office were assigned to
deal with him.
In addition, different messages were
communicated to him by the officers.
For example, manager
Ms Kala had told Dr Chee that her office "will examine your
Income & Expenditure Statement and thereafter determine the
monthly instalment you are required to contribute for the benefit
of your creditors. Once you undertake to do so, the Official
Assignee will consider your application to travel."
"But
in the next email," Dr Chee explained, "Ms Kala changed
her position and said that I had to make a proposal to pay Lee
Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong monthly instalments before she would
approve my travel application."
Dr Chee continued:
"No where did she mention in her first email that I was the
one who had to make the proposal. Yet, she had the cheek to write
in her second email: ‘As we mentioned in our earlier
e-mail, only after you [make a proposal to pay your creditors],
we will consider your application to travel.' This is the kind of
nonsense that I have had to deal with."
Dr Chee also
pointed out that even on the day that he was due to travel, the
OA's office had still not rejected his application (which came
only two weeks later).
The only way he could find out
whether his application was approved or not was at the airport.
"If my application was rejected, I would be turned back.
Otherwise, I would proceed with my flight."
"Up
to this point, the OA's office had been incompetent and
unprofessional in its handling of the entire matter," Dr
Chee charged.
In addition, he had repeatedly indicated
that he made insufficient income to pay the two former prime
ministers. But the OA kept insisting that he make monthly
payments before permission for him to travel would be given.
"As
I understand it, bankrupts have to seek permission to travel
because the OA doesn't want them to spend money which can be used
to pay their creditors," Dr Chee said.
"In my
case, I had presented evidence that my expenses were paid for my
the conference organizer. I was not going to spend any of my own
expenses.
"And I had made it clear that I was going
to return to Singapore after the conference. Nothing was going to
keep me away.
"What reason then would the OA have to
not grant me permission to travel?"
The day's
proceeding ended when it was the Prosecutor's turn to
cross-examine Dr Chee. She, however, wanted time to prepare her
questioning.
The hearing resumes tomorrow at 9:30 am in
Subordinate Court 5.
|
|
