by Ganesh Sahathevan
It has been previously reported that College Of Law Australia's CEO Neville Carter informed this writer in 2019 that he had instructed his staff to not provide answers to any queries from this writer . The queries concerned the College's business and Carter's claims about his contribution to Malaysian legal practise.
The College's advisers Dhinesh Bhaskaran and Tat Chung Wong are subject to Malaysian laws,and their seeming obedience to Carter's directive may have consequences for all concerned under Malaysian law, with regards the College's misconduct in offering LLM degrees in Malaysia without approval from Malaysian authorities, and despite not being among law schools certified by the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee.
TOE BE READ WITH
Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Bar Council Malaysia working with College Of Law Australia promised its members "internationally recognised" law qualifications - College Of Law Sydney not among law schools certified by the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee
by Ganesh Sahathevan
An extract from the Bar Council Malaysia's 2017/18 Annual Report:
However, College Of Law Australia, based in Sydney,is not among law schools certified by the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee. The College's CEO Neville Carter has ordered his staff to not entertain queries from this writer, which go back to 2018, and concern the College's conduct in Malaysia.
Saturday, January 23, 2021
College Of Law Sydney's LLM degrees offered in Malaysia, Singapore, ASEAN not recognised even in Australia: College Of Law Sydney not among law schools certified by the Australian Law Schools Standards Committee
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Readers will recall that Sydney's College Of Law has begun offering a range of LLMs, or Masters Of Law courses in Malaysia, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN on the strength of its standing in Australia, and its contribution to legal practise in Malaysia going back to the 80s. As New Malaysia Times has reported, the College's past and recent business in Malaysia is shrouded in mystery. Silence on the part of the College's advisers in Malaysia, Dinesh Bashkaran of Shearn & Wong Tat Chung of Wong Beng Toh, who are senior members of the Malaysian Bar , has only deepened the mystery.
The Australian Law Schools Standards Committee (ALSSC) is established under Standard 12 of the Australian Law School Standards. The ALSSC’s functions are to:
- consider and determine applications from law schools for certification as compliant with the Standards; and
- keep the Standards under review and to propose to CALD amendments from time to time.
The ALSSC is comprised of eight committee members from both within and outside the law school sector.
A list of the Australian Law Schools that are certified as at 9 March 2020 is available here.
https://cald.asn.au/wp-
Readers can see for themselves from the PDF link above that the College Of Law Sydney is not among those listed as being certified by the CALD.
END
KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 – The Malaysian Bar Council launched its first education venture, a LLM in Malaysian Legal Practise (LLM), last year in collaboration with the College Of Law Australia.
The LLM does not seem to have the approval of Malaysia’s Legal Professional Qualifying Board (LPQB) but the website for the course, which is hosted in Australia, prominently displays the Bar Council crest.
The crest has not been used before to promote a course of study, and queries put to Bar Council President Fareed Gafoor about the use of the crest have been acknowledged but remain unanswered.
NMT has however sighted an email from Fareed dated Friday, May 24, 2019 with regards the LLM and the use of the crest where he states:
Dear Rajen,
We can’t remain silent on this.
Abdul Fareed Bin Abdul Gafoor
Sent from my iPad
It is understood that “Rajen” refers to Rajen Devaraj, Chief Executive Officer of the Bar Council Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur.
The Bar has remained silent for nearly 2 months since.
Key person suddenly retired during extensive query
The College of Law used to be represented in Malaysia by its Director, Peter Tritt. Tritt have been queried extensively about the LLM and about the College’s business in Malaysia but has refused to provide answers. Tritt has been based in Kuala Lumpur since 2017 but announced on Friday that he had “retired” from the College on 30 June 2019.
It is understood that Tritt has forwarded queries sent him to his head office in Sydney and hence it appears that Tritt is under orders from his Chief Executive, Neville Carter, to remain silent.
Questionable advertising claims?
In advertising on the College’s website Carter has claimed that he had established a Professional Legal Training course for Malaysian Law students seeking admission to practise in Malaysia. There seems to be no evidence of such a course, or of any national level training course for the existing Certificate of Legal Practise.
Carter has also claimed to have produced the “inaugural” Handbook in Legal Practise for Malaysia, in the late 80s. A search of the main law libraries in Malaysia directed by the Chief Registrar, Federal Court Malaysia, has not found any such handbook.
He has also claimed to have, during that time to have identified and addressed “gaps” in Malaysian legal practise, but not even those in practice during that period and since have ever heard of him. Nor are senior practitioners aware of “gaps” that needed that to be addressed by external consultants.
As CEO of the College Carter has ultimate responsibility for the College’s Malaysian operation headed by Tritt and variously named the “College Of Law Asia Pacific” and the “College Of Law Asia”. A search by NMT has not revealed any entities registered under those names in Malaysia or in Australia, not even a foreign entities registered to conduct business in Malaysia.
Meanwhile the College, in collaboration with the Bar Council continues to sell its LLM and other courses in Malaysia, deriving a fee income from Malaysian courses.
-NMT
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