Singapore High Court clarification of directors' duties may have consequences for Australia's College Of Law and its senior directors who are also directors of the College's Singapore subsidiary

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

College Of Law CEO Neville Carter and  SLS President Gregor Vijayndran SC .Vijayndran and the SLS have been unwilling to answer queries abiut their business witht he College

In a recent decision the High Court Singapore held that non-executive directors were as responsible as executive directors for the governance of their companies ,and could not be excused for being unaware of matters concerning their companies.  The decision may have adverse consequences for the NSW Law Society's College Of Law, given its wholly-owned COL SIN P/L subsidiary whose directors include the College's most senior directors . 

The College  and its directors problems may arise from a likely failure to disclose to Singapore authorities various accounting and governance issues that arose in Malaysia (see story below) which remain undisclosed in its Australian annual reports. 

The College and its directors are very much part of the Sydney legal establishment , and they  have been able to escape scrutiny as a result. Their decision to venture into Asia and in particular Malaysia removed that shield, and it does appear as if the College's hasty and secretive withdrawal from that market was an attempt to escape uncomfortable questions about their business there. The College's long time CEO, Neville Carter, has ordered his staff to never answer queries from this writer.

END 

TO BE READ WITH 

Monday, July 13, 2020

Australia's College Of Law takes advantage of Singapore's regional HQ incentives: A first for an Australian not for profit ;meanwhile details about the incorporation of its College Of Law Asia remains elusive

by Ganesh Sahathevan


The chart below(click to enlarge) was sighted on the College Of Law webpage at this link.https://www.collaw.edu.au/-/media/col/au_files/downloads-and-forms/about/corporate-governance/college-of-law-corporate-and-academic-committee-structure-as-june-2019.pdf

           

The webpage was found when looking for an interesting new entity, 

COL SIN PRIVATE LIMITED.

A company search reveals that Col Sin Pty Ltd has listed its activities as "head and regional head offices, centralised and administrative offices.....".

It's directors are Neville Carter, CEO of the College Of Law, Joseph Catanzariti, its chairman, and Angie  Louise  Zandistra, who seems to have taken over the duties of Peter Tritt, Director College Of Law Asia (otherwise known as the College Of Law Asia Pacific). 

Col Sin has a paid-up capital of One Singapore Dollar.  The Singapore Government offers companies that locate their headquarters and regional headquarters in Singapore concessional tax rates. Why the College Of Law,which is a not for profit registered with Australian Charities And Not For Profit Commission (ACNC). 

TO BE READ WITH 

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

In search of the College Of Law Asia : College Of Law's Asian expansion still raising questions which Australia's legal establishment refuses to answer

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Australia's College Of Law, which is part of the NSW legal establishment conducts a number of postgraduate "applied law" courses. Among them is a Mergers & Acquisitions offering. Prospective students are enticed by statements such as this, contained in a course brochure (click to enlarge): 

The College Of  Law Asia seems an elusive creature. It first popped up in Malaysia, but then disappeared. Neither the College not the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board which regulates the College's activities have had anything to say about these issues (and others) reported in Malaysia:

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.

TO BE READ WITH


Sunday, June 21, 2020

Singapore Law Society maintains silence on MOU with Australia's College Of Law,and has removed a website about which it was queried.: SLS seems to be following the lead of Bar Council Malaysia in re College Of Law

by Ganesh Sahathevan


  College Of Law CEO Neville Carter & SLS President Gregory Vijayndran SC . Vijayndran and the SLS have been unwilling to answer questions about their business with the College

As previously reported, the Singapore Law Society's confidence in its practical legal training partner, the College Of Law Australia, is not shared by participants in the Australia's market for legal education. 

The SLS's Dephine Tan has since been further questioned about an upcoming "master-class" that is to be offered by the College of Law and SLS, and presented by Raphael Tay of Malaysia, who is described as Program Director, LLM ASEAN+6 at The College of Law Asia 
Readers will note that they are reading a cached copy of the SLS website on which the "master-class" was advertised. The actual website https://www.lawsociety.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Brochure_eMasterclass-MnA-Webinar-PORTAL-1.pdf
seems to have been removed since questions were put last Thursday to Ms Tan and the SLS. 
It does look as the SLS is following in the footsteps of the Bar Council Malaysia, in not wanting to answer questions, and in removing websites related to work with the College Of Law.
The experience of the Bar Council Malaysia were also put to the SLS,and have also been met with stony silence. 

Posted by ganesh sahathevan at 6:24 PM