Sunday, August 18, 2019

Why did the LPAB make an exception for China's Minshen Zhu & Top Group -AG NSW Speakman maintains political silence despite weakening share price, China protests

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Top Education Group Ltd

HKG: 1752

0.32 HKD −0.0050

19 Aug, 4:00 pm GMT+8 ·

Open	0.33
High	0.33
Low	0.32
Mkt cap	826.11M
P/E ratio	81.66

Div yield	-
Prev close	0.33
52-wk high	0.46
52-wk low	0.24

Anyone can see that Top Group stands out in this list from the NSW LPAB website:

Accredited law courses

In accordance with Section 29 of the Uniform Law and by virtue of the transitional and savings provisions in the Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 32(3)(a) the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board has accredited the following Academic courses

Name of Institution	Course
Legal Profession Admission Board	Diploma in Law
University of Sydney	LLB or JD
University of New South Wales	LLB or JD
Macquarie University	LLB or JD
University of Technology Sydney	LLB or JD
University of Wollongong	LLB
University of New England	LLB or JD
Southern Cross University	LLB
University of Newcastle	LLB or JD
Western Sydney University	LLB
University of Notre Dame	LLB
TOP Education Institute	LLB
Australian Catholic University	LLB
Charles Sturt University	LLB or LLB/BCrimJustice

Top Group has been happy to advertise the fact that the LPAB granted it the "first and only" license to grant law degrees granted a private company.

Malaysia will investigate NSW AG and LPAB oversight of the College Of Law:: College communication with persons in Malaysia of interest with regards "research" about Mahathir bribing the ABC

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Mr Lewis Patrick

On 16 March 2018 this writer sent an email to Lewis Patrick the Academic Director of the College of Law Sydney which was critical of the College's teaching and PLT course.It was sent in the course of an investigation commenced by this writer in early 2018 into the College's expansion into Malaysia, while enrolled in the College's PLT course.

Information has been obtained which shows that the email was forwarded to a person or persons in Malaysia on 17 March 2018.

A second email was sent the College Of Law on 17 March 2018 and this concerned the College using the Kitingan family name,without their knowledge, to promote its Asean+6 LLM. This too was sent to Malaysia.

Patrick has denied forwarding any emails from this writer to persons in Malaysia ,despite the evidence.

He did however then go on to provide the Legal Profession Admission Board a confidential report about this writer's queries and complaints.

The LPAB's reports against this writer included a finding that he colluded with Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia.

As readers will be aware this followed that confidential report:

Bizarre blog claims used to deny man right to practise law

Readers will also be aware that the bizzare blog claim was based on this story , which condemns PM Mahathir more than it does this writer, by RPK and his friend RJ Rithaudeen:

Ganesh Sahathevan, RPK, Clare Brown, Ginny Stein And The Blood Money Trail

Readers will also be aware that the above story is linked to this story:

The Jerusalem Chronicles: Ganesh Sahathevan and Lim Kit Siang, weapons of mass deception, which includes this immortal (and regretfully false) statement:

Ganesh was paid USD1 million by a member of team Mahathir to float the idea (READ FULL STORY HERE) while Kit Siang prepped the Red Bean Army (RBA) with one-liners that accused Trump of being anti-Islam.

The College continues to maintain its silence,as have the LPAB and the Department of Justice, all of whom are under the purview of the Attorney General NSW Marl Speakman. Mr Speakman has involved himself in the murky world of Malaysian business and politics,regardless of whether he intended to do so.

END

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Malaysia will investigate NSW AG and LPAB oversight of the College Of Law: College's Malaysian business removes protective mantle; likely to further expose LPAB Annual report exclusions

by Ganesh Sahathevan

The story below was published by the well connected Malaysian investigative new site New Malaysia Times. An investigation by all the relevant Malaysian authorities can be expected, and that will involve a forensic examination of the College Of Law Sydney.

Questions about the College's activities in Malaysia have been put by this writer to the two parties ultimately responsible for regulating the College's activities , the Attorney General NSW Mark Speakman and the Legal Professional Admission Board NSW.

The queries have been met with accusations, by the LPAB and the AG of harassment , threat and intimidation by this writer of the College's management.They have gone so far as to object to the Attorney General Malaysia being informed about the College's activities in Malaysia
They have also excluded from the LPAB's 2018 and earlier Annual Reports , which the AG tables in the NSW Parliament complaints against the College and its management; and in particular statements on the official record that they have made in support of the College.

All the above is now likely to be investigated in Malaysia.
END

Bar Council education ‘JV’ must be clarified

By Editor , in Scandal on July 19, 2019 . Tagged width: College of Law , Fareed Gafoor , Malaysian Bar

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

See also

AG NSW justifies exclusion of foreign regulatory risks from Dept of Justice annual reports on the basis that he was threatened, intimidated by the information:The matter of Top Group has implications for all regulators (including the NSW Law Soc)

Saturday, August 17, 2019

China-HK protest on Australian campuses but not at Minshen Zhu controlled campuses-Are legal profession admission rules being used (again ) to suppress complaints and protests

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Alex Joske

@alexjoske

A few other Australians can be spotted in footage of the event, which was attended by Xi Jinping and Politburo Standing Committee Member Wang Yang. Here is Zhu Minshen, who famously paid Sam Dastyari's travel bill, shaking hands with Papa Xi 4/

3:59 PM · May 31, 2019·Twitter Web Client

While protests in solidarity with Hong Kong citizens defending their rights have erupted on a number of Australian campuses there has been silence on Sydney campuses controlled by Liberal and Labor donor Minshen Zhu and his Top Education Group Ltd.

This silence is surprising given the high percentage of Chinese students that are enrolled at Top's campuses, including its Sydney City School Of Law. The School is the"first and only" private institution to have been granted the right to issue law degrees by the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board, which is ultimately under the purview of the NSW Attorney General, Mark Speakman. Together with that right comes the power to determine if law graduates may be admitted to practice law in NSW and in Australia.

Known as Rule 19 certificates issued pursuant to the Uniform Legal Profession Admission Rules,the power to do so can and has been used to protect the interests of the issuer. Top Group is listed in Hong Kong and Zhu is known to be close to the Communist Party Of China's leadership.

It is in his interest and that of his Top Group to ensure that students at their campuses do not register any sort of protest in any manner what so ever against the Chinese government. .

AG Speakman and the Australian legal profession owe Top students an assurance that they will not be penalized for protesting in any way again the Chinese Government.

END

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Malaysia's 1MDB prosecutors seem shy, afraid of working with their US counterparts-Why?

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Arul Kanda Kandasamy, former head of defunctn state investment fund 1MDB,
leaves Kuala Lumpur High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018.
Malaysia has charged Goldman Sachs and seems to be going it alone without the DOJ

Reports this week about the US Department Of Justice's investigation into Goldman Sachs' part in the 1MDB theft reveal a disturbing lack of cooperation from Malaysian prosecutors who are also pursuing Goldmans.

In the matter of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA against TIM LEISSNER,
the following was revealed:

Throughout 2012 and 2013, the defendant TIM LEISSNER conspired with others, including Co-Conspirator #1 and Co-Conspirator #2, to obtain and retain business from lMDB for the benefit of U.S. Financial Institution #1 through the promise and payment of bribes and kickbacks to government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi using, in pati, misappropriated and embezzled proceeds from lMDB bond transactions. During this time, through the course of the scheme, LEISSNER, together with Co-Conspirator #1, Co-Conspirator #2 and others, paid millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to government officials, and obtained lMDB business for U.S. Financial Institution #1, in patiicular, three bond offering transactions underwritten by U.S. Financial Institution #1 for lMDB referred to as "Project Magnolia," "Project Maximus" and "Project Catalyze."

Given the finding that Leissner and his co-conspirators paid millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to (Malaysian) government officials, why are not Malaysian prosecutors working together with their DOJ counterparts? Given the Malaysian investigations into former PM Najib Razak over the past five years and especially in the past year and a half since the change in government much has been learnt which would have helped the DOJ case.

Additionally, given the extensive DOJ investigations the Malaysian evidence is likely to have been strengthened.

This reticence by Malaysian prosecutors to work with the DOJ has been evident throughout the SRC trial where none of the very extensive DOJ data was ever mentioned.

Meanwhile, it does appear as if the rest of the world led by the DOJ is pursuing the 1MDB matter with greater vigour and skill than Malaysia.

This week Bloomberg reported:

Andrea Vella was Goldman Sachs’s top dealmaker in Hong Kong. He had a nose for splashy trades, a fondness for the Bentley Continental, and a vague enough resemblance to George Clooney that there was even a joke among some bankers: “What would George do?”

That was almost a year ago. Then U.S. prosecutors dragged him into one of the biggest Wall Street scandals in a generation. Without charging him, they filed court documents tying Vella to the conspiracy that looted billions of dollars from the Malaysian investment fund known as 1MDB. The bank promptly put him on leave.

Now as the U.S. weighs how to handle Goldman Sachs, Vella is the mystery man to watch. If someone so powerful is found to have helped fuel the fiasco, it will be much harder for the bank to contain it by pinning blame on a rogue partner, Tim Leissner.

During confidential talks, the bank has been at odds with prosecutors over their description of Vella’s role in key moments of the 1MDB deals, according to people familiar with the discussions. Authorities have said that he dealt with the scandal’s alleged mastermind, Jho Low, and was aware of plans to bribe officials -- a narrative Goldman has been disputing.

There’s another reason Vella’s involvement strikes a nerve. He helped structure 1MDB’s fundraising, and after money went missing played a central role in Goldman’s initial review of what went wrong, one of the people said. When U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn described his involvement in court filings last year, without naming him, it alarmed some members of Goldman’s board, who worried the claims might further taint the firm’s senior leadership, two people said.

Malaysian prosecutors who have charged 17 Goldman executives with 1MDB related crimes in Malaysia have not charged Vella despite his central role.

END