Saturday, August 18, 2018

YA Daryl Goon , the Malaysian Applied Law LLM ,and YAA Richard Malanjum

by Ganesh Sahathevan

MASTER OF LAWS (APPLIED LAW) IN MALAYSIAN LEGAL PRACTICE

This writer has spent much time this week, and the last praying that the newly appointed Yang Ariff Daryl Goon might condescend to explain why he has has endorsed something called the Master of Laws (Applied Law) in Malaysian Legal Practice.

Goon has been asked to explain given the fact that this LLM (and indeed no others) have been approved by the Legal Profession Qualifying Board..

The Malaysian Bar Council seems to have played some part in promoting the course (see below) but its President and Secretary have refused numerous requests for information about what

approvals if any the Malaysian Bar Council had obtained to promote the course in Malaysia.

The course website , hosted by the private college in Australia that manages the course (with a faculty of one person) shows prominently the Bar Council's logo. YA Daryl Goon is listed among its advisers.

The private college also claims that it produced in 1985-86 the first group of "elite" law graduates from MARA who were admitted to practice in Malaysia. This does come as a bit of surprise to this writer and others like him who know and know of Malaysian lawyers who graduated from MARA in the 1970s. In the latter category (for I do not know him personally) is the current Chief Justice , YAA Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, who graduated in 1973.

One hopes that the newly minted YA will at least have an explanation for his YAA.

END

The questions (see below) remain despite this promotion by the Bar Council Malaysia:

Circular No 147/2017

Dated 11 July 2017n

To Members of the Malaysian Bar

Providing Assistance to The College of Law, Australia | Development of Localised Master

of Laws Programme

The Bar Council Malaysia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The College of

Law, Australia and New Zealand in order to create further legal education and training platforms

for the benefit of Members of the Bar.

In this regard, The College of Law is interested to localise the content of its existing Australian

Master of Laws (“LLM”) in Applied Law programme for Malaysia, and is interested in working

with Members of the Bar who have relevant legal research and writing, and practical legal

experience. This is to be carried out on a project basis, and the Members will be remunerated.

The first six subjects in this new LLM programme are near completion and will be offered in

September 2017 as part of a new LLM (Applied Law) with a major in Malaysian Legal Practice.

The next 11 LLM subjects that The College of Law is interested in localising are listed below:

(1)

Advocacy;

(2)

Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice;

(3)

Arbitration.

(4)

Banking and Finance;

(5)

Family Law Practice;

(6)

Intellectual Property Practice;

(7)

Islamic Banking and Finance;

(8)

Mediation;

(9)

Mergers and Acquisitions Practice;

(10) Negotiation; and

(11) Wills, Estates and Trusts.

If you are interested in pursuing this opportunity, please send your expression of interest together

with your detailed resume and any queries, directly to:

Peter Tritt

Director | Asia-Pacific

The College of Law Australia and New Zealand

Level 23, Nu Tower 2

Jalan Tun Sambanthan,

50470 Kuala Lumpur

Email: ptritt@collaw.edu.au

Mobile: +6013 305 7660

Thank you.

Roger Chan Weng Keng

Secretary

Malaysian Bar

Friday, August 17, 2018

Asia's best known fugitive feels safe in Sydney ;home of the world's best AML,CTF and counter-terrorism leaders

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Jho Low and Leonardo Dicaprio at the premier of The Wolf of Wall Street.

Malaysia issues arrest warrant for financier Jho Low and former

Goldman banker

The Sydney-based PR firm Wells Haslem Mayhew Strategic

Public Affairs issued a statement yesterday on behalf of Malaysian fugitive Jho Low.

The statement included the following passages:

"To reiterate: Mr Low will not submit to any jurisdiction where guilt has been predetermined by politics and self-interest overrules the legal process," said the spokesperson.

"Today's WSJ article was obviously planted there by the Mahathir regime, working with these reporters towards a common goal: The WSJ reporters have a book coming out next month that they are trying to sell, while Mahathir is intent on advancing his own corrupt political agenda by assigning guilt without any form of legal process.

It seems that in NSW at least, Jho Low can feel safe, secure, and free to spend his family's generational wealth, on anything including the defense of his and his family's reputation.

And, he can be sure that NSW's world class AML, CTF and counter-terrorism leaders will not let the newly elected prime minister of Malaysia , Mahathir's ,"corrupt political agenda" get in their way. These are upright men and women who have a proud tradition of putting the rights of the accused first, and above everything else. They also believe this story to be credible if not gospel truth:

Ganesh Sahathevan, RPK, Clare Brown, Ginny Stein and the blood money trail

END

Reference

Fugitive businessperson Jho Low has slammed the Wall Street Journal over an article which alleged that he had sought refuge in China after the May 9 elections.

While not denying the contents of the article, Low accused the writers of the article of breaching journalistic ethics by reporting on a matter to advance their book.

This was in reference to Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World, set to be released in September, by WSJ writers Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, who have been reporting on Low and 1MDB since 2015.

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Bar Council Malaysia getting into the education business, starting with nothing less than a Masters

by Ganesh Sahathevan

This has the look and feel of a business selling educational products.

Malaysian Applied Law LLM - College of Law (Asia)
The College Of Law (Asia) is in substance a branch of the College Of Law Sydney.

The Master of Laws (Applied Law) in Malaysian Legal Practice is designed to meet the needs of the Malaysian legal profession for higher level, practice-based skills acquisition across a range of specialised practice areas.

It has been developed by The College of Law in collaboration with Bar Council Malaysia.

This programme is suitable for all Malaysian legal professionals looking to further develop their career and, in particular, their skills and knowledge across a range of applied law subjects relevant for the Malaysian legal jurisdiction.

Our experience in Australia has shown that employers and students alike are seeking further academic study in the form of real-world legal education, rather than a theoretical focus. Being able to apply what you learned today, tomorrow, means your investment is paying off immediately.

When you undertake our Applied Law LLM programme you will be undertaking practice-based tasks and assessments, not writing essays and doing exams.

You will be able to demonstrate to your current or future employer your commitment to self-development and the desire to progress in your career.he

The course is targeted at Malaysians, from an off-shore location.Local promotion is assisted by use of the Malaysian Bar Council's logo.

END

Friday, August 3, 2018

Australia's education sector putting money ahead of standards :The trend continues, aided and abetted by TEQSA

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Nicholas Saunders TEQSA Chief Commissioner

Professor Nick Saunders AO (Chief Commissioner)

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is an Australian government body that is meant to ensure that the hundred of thousands each overseas student hands over to Australian colleges and universities actually purchases a worthwhile degree.

It is headed by one Nicholas Saunders (photo above).

Over the past three months Saunders and TEQSA have been queried about the finances, infrastructure, academic qualifications and teaching standards at a private college in Sydney which has an on-line offering actively promoted in South East Asia.

His response, to sum up,has been to ignore, deny, and obfuscate.

He has done so despite being provided evidence which has included written responses from the dean of a law school in Malaysia which confirmed that the principal of the private college in question had at the very least exaggerated his seniority and nature of work in Malaysia.

In a sense Saunders is typical of the modern Australian academic who has discovered that students from Asia are an easy, cheap way to make money while enjoying "marketing trips" to especially now China.

The article below from Singapore's Strait Times is but one example of what Asians have seen for a long time as a naked cash grab.

Adding to the problem is the fact that there is no real avenue to complain about low standards, or universities providing educational goods and services way below what students have paid for.

While TESQA is supposed to provide an avenue for such complaints, Saunders himself has been caught referring complaints back to the university or college concerned. His excuse: Students are required to address their concerns to the internal complaint process.

That approach works well when a student complains about marking and grades, but clearly the wrong avenue when the complaint is about the product.

END

Alarm over Aussie unis' low

entry standards

The University of New South Wales is among those found to have been accepting students whose high school rankings were well below the advertised minimum. Critics have accused the universities of boosting enrolment to increase revenue, saying the decision to let in substandard students has drained resources and led to bloated class sizes.ST FILE PHOTO

PUBLISHED

FEB 3, 2016, 5:00 AM SGT

Many students don't make the grade, but varsities have other admission criteria

Jonathan Pearlman For The Straits Times In Sydney

Universities in Australia have been accepting large numbers of students who fall below the admission requirements, prompting concerns about a decline in the nation's education standards.

The falling entry standards came to light after figures were published last week by Fairfax Media showing that leading universities in the state of New South Wales have been accepting students whose high school rankings were well below the universities' advertised minimum.

These included Macquarie University, where 64 per cent of students who were offered places for this year had a ranking below the cut- off. The figure was 46 per cent at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), 27 per cent at the University of Sydney, and 59 per cent at Western Sydney University. Universities in other Australian states reportedly had similar numbers.

The figures sparked a debate on whether universities were allowing standards to slip or whether the problem was with catch-all ranking systems that do not consider a candidate's other qualities.

New South Wales State Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said he believed the admission practices of the universities risked damaging their international reputation.

NO EXCUSE

I'm annoyed that universities are taking students with such low marks... For universities that are concerned about their rankings internationally to be taking in students with such low (admission scores) is not a good look. I know they have funding pressures, but that is no excuse.

MR ADRIAN PICCOLI, State Education Minister of New South Wales, saying he believes the admission practices of the universities risk damaging their international reputation.

Australia has about 300,000 international university students, with six universities in last year's top 100 world rankings by Times Higher Education.

Mr Piccoli told Fairfax Media last week: "I'm annoyed that universities are taking students with such low marks... For universities that are concerned about their rankings internationally to be taking in students with such low (admission scores) is not a good look. I know they have funding pressures, but that is no excuse."

Most local undergraduates in Australia are admitted into university on the basis of the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank - a percentile score that shows how students performed against other students.

The move to admit an increasing number of students with lower admission rankings followed the federal government's decision in 2012 to allow universities to offer as many undergraduate places as they like. The total student population went from 1.26 million that year to 1.37 million in 2014, an increase of almost 10 per cent.

Critics have accused the universities of boosting enrolment to increase their revenue, saying the decision to let in substandard students has drained resources and led to bloated class sizes.

But universities said admissions are not based merely on a catch-all ranking and take into account other factors such as a candidate's leadership skills, community contribution and where he went to school.

Professor Iain Martin, a deputy vice-chancellor at the UNSW, said universities have various schemes to add points to a student's ranking. This could be based on a student's performance in subjects relevant to a particular degree, or whether he is socially disadvantaged.

A government study in 2014 showed that students with lower rankings are less likely to complete their courses.

Mr Andrew Norton, an expert on higher education at think-tank Grattan Institute, said it was important to ensure disadvantaged students have an opportunity to attend university. But, he added, it was also important to provide support to students with lower rankings to help them complete their degrees.

"Reform needs to be geared towards not just increasing enrolment, but to what is in the best interests of students and prospective students," he wrote on The Conversation website on Jan 21.

"We want to give them a chance to complete a degree, not just to start one."

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Lee Ming Tee & Mulpha's Australian AUD 2.9 Billion funding examined by an Australian Senate Inquiry

NOTE

Ming Tee made headlines in 2004 after he was convicted

and jailed a year for falsifying corporate documents to

escape Hong Kong’s share disclosure laws over his

Allied Overseas Investments firm in the 1990s.

While many have criticized Lee Ming Tee and Mulpha's Aveo Group in Australia for its

treatment of residents in its retirement villages, few if any have looked at Aveo's financial structure, funded in large part by retirees who provide interest free unsecured loans.The loans,which are essentially long term debt ,now total almost AUD 3 Billion.

Opening statement to Senate
Aged Care Inquiry

Posted by Michael West | Jul 17, 2018 |

Despatch, Government

Opening statement to the Senate Economics References Committee
Inquiry into the Financial and tax practices of for-profit
aged care providers
by Michael West.

Thank you for the privilege of appearing before this committee today.

I have a brief statement to make.

There is a conflict of interest in corporations operating aged care facilities in Australia.
This is the conflict between maximising financial returns for shareholders and
maintaining decent levels of care for the elderly.

This may not be an insurmountable conflict but it should be subject to oversight.
The best, first, step in managing this conflict is transparency.

Senators will be aware of the terrific success of the 2015 Senate Inquiry into
Corporate Tax Avoidance by this very Committee. The sunlight which was shone,
via that inquiry, into devious tax practices of large corporations, and the resulting reforms
and publication of Tax Transparency data, has helped deliver billions of extra dollars in
corporate tax receipts to the national coffers. Transparency, coupled with more determined
enforcement, has led to improved tax behaviour.

I hope that this inquiry will produce a similarly successful outcome by focussing politica
l and regulatory attention on the aged care sector and bringing transparency reform.

As a journalist who, along with Jason Ward, has published recent investigations into the
retirement village and aged care sector, I can make some brief observations of some of the
challenges faced. My website, michaelwest.com.au, deals mostly in investigations into large
companies and the way they intersect with governments.

I analysed three of the largest corporate players in this country who operate retirement
villages and aged care assets: Lend Lease, Aveo and Stockland.

Links to the stories are included in this statement for the perusal of the Senators.

Between them, these three companies are sitting on $10 billion worth of resident loans.
These loans are unsecured, zero interest and of no specified duration. Lendlease records
“resident liabilities” of $4.6 billion, Stockland $2.5 billion in “retirement village resident
obligations” and Aveo $2.9 billion in “resident loans”.

They are both the property developers, the agents, and the managers too, who typically
charge 30 per cent in deferred management fees. It is doubtful that elderly residents know
they are giving an unsecured, zero interest loan to a property developer in return for some
sort of right.

For the purposes of this inquiry, it should be noted that these are retirement village operations
we are talking about here. Both Aveo and Lendlease – not Stockland – are in aged care too.
And the lines indeed blur between retirement villages, “transition” services and nursing
homes. The latter are often attached to the former.

In any case, I have not analysed aged care bonds but what would happen in the event of a wind-up of a major eldercare operation? Staff would be paid first, as is the case with insolvencies, then inevitably the liquidator would take his or her hungry pound of flesh, followed by secured creditors – read the banks.

What rarely happens in the event of insolvency is unsecured creditors seeing a brass razoo.
Typically, the Australian Taxation Office is one such unsecured creditor.

That means the financial carnage, were it to occur, would fall squarely on the head of the
taxpayer as government would be unlikely to countenance a large collapse in such as
sensitive sector.

Are taxpayers protected? Is anybody watching?

Talking with industry insiders for these investigations it became apparent that the
For-Profit players can use this interest-free money anyway they like.

Do they pay tax? Stockland uses a trust structure so it is incumbent on members to stump up
the tax. Lend Lease – according to the ATO transparency data – paid zero tax in Australia on
$24 billion of income over three years.

Worse, it has been buying villages, claiming a bonanza in deductions by changing the
contracts from lease to loan arrangements, booking the benefit of those deductions to its
bottom line, and ignoring the tax law that says you can’t double dip. It is understood the
Tax Office is investigating.

Aveo is adept at eliminating its taxable income too, and therefore its tax bill. Over the three
years of available Tax Office transparency data, the group recorded $1.4 billion in total
income and showed zero tax payable.

Both Lend Lease and Aveo are expanding rapidly in aged care. They enjoy large subsidies
from government but pay little or no tax themselves.

Bear in mind we are talking only about the leading corporate players in the eldercare sector.
What of the smaller players whose financial statements cannot be found?

There are risks with these big players. Lend Lease is one of Australia’s leading blue chip
companies but our investigations found earnings inflated by aggressive asset revaluations
and reclassifications. We also found leverage buried in joint ventures, loans from one joint
venture used to fund a buy-back of Lend Lease shares.

For its part, Aveo appears to be higher risk. Tax haven associates, a circuitous array
of corporate entities globally and a host of related party transactions make this a very
tough enterprise to examine.

Does the Department understand the risks? Do the regulators understand the risks?

In reporting on more than two decades of share market booms and crashes I can say that the
warning signs for corporate crashes were often in aggressive pursuit of profits, aggressive
secrecy and aggressive – that is labyrinthine – corporate structures. The use of tax havens,
trusts, off-balance sheet debts in joint ventures, leverage which cannot easily be detected;
these are the things which are only ever fully understood when it is too late.

As the numbers in aged care are exploding, this sector faces many challenges.

Instances of abuse of residents, gross failure of care and the gouging of residents have
been well publicised.

I submit that it would be worthwhile for authorities to pay close attention to the corporate
providers, particularly private equity operators who tend to be more aggressive on cost-cutting and leverage.

Above all, transparency is critical. A few suggestions:

1. Aged care providers with revenue of $20 million or more should file general purpose financial statements (GP) with the relevant state and Commonwealth departments.

2. All tax haven connections should be separately disclosed, as should the full amount of
government subsidies, and a record of all breaches of relevant professional standards.

Residents and their families should not be expected to trawl through the ASIC database to
find the relevant corporate vehicle. This is even beyond the capacity of most journalists.
Moreover, ASIC fees are prohibitive at $38 for a single set of financials which may not
even be for the relevant entity.

The statutory materials should be published on the website of each operator along with the
glossy marketing material.

3. Examine the security of resident loans, leases and bonds, and consider whether this
needs to be tightened to protect the elderly and their families. In the event of a wind up,
will there be anything left over?

4. Contracts need to be simplified.

END

Khazanah directors threat of resignation may have exposed entire board to liability for billions lost as a result of their "undated letter" misadventure.

by Ganesh Sahathevan

The eight other members of Khazanah Nasional who resigned
(clockwise from top left): Tan Sri Md Nor Md Yusof, Tan Sri Mohamed
Azman Yahya, Dato' Mohammed Azlan Hashim,
Raja Tan Sri Dato' Seri Arshad Bin Raja Tun Uda, Yeo Kar Peng,
Dato’ Dr Nirmala Menon, Dato' Sri Nazir Tun Abdul Razak, and
Tan Sri Andrew Sheng Len Tao
.

In a typically Malaysian move the chairman and directors of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah have chosen to threaten to resign, sending Prime Minister Tun Mahathir undated resignation letters so that he can decide if they should resign.

The problem for the chairman and the board is this:it matters little what the PM does with their undated letters, their duty remains to the company and its shareholder.

Directors can of course resign at any time, and they do so by submitting written,dated ,signed letters of resignation to the company secretary. This "let the PM decide" maneuver does little more than convey to the shareholder that the board has gone on strike. While this may work for coolies, it does not work for company directors.Directors who refuse to work are in breach of their duties as directors, and may be liable for the fall in share prices at Tenaga, Telekom and other Khazanah companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia,caused by their threat of resignation. Billions lost, all of which may be attributed to the board.

Khazanah Nasional managing director Azman Mokhtar (above) and eight other members of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund's board have submitted their resignations to the government.PHOTO: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

END

Khazanah directors threat of resignation may have exposed entire board to liability for billions lost as a result of their "undated letter" misadventure.

by Ganesh Sahathevan

In a typically Malaysian move the chairman and directors of board Malaysian sovereign wealth

fund Khazanah have chosen to threaten to resign, sending Prime Minister Tun Mahathir undated

resignation letters so that he can decide if they should resign.

The problem for the chairman and the board is this:it matters little what the PM does with
their undated letters, their duty remains to the company and its shareholder.

Directors can of course resign at any time, and they do so by submitting written,dated ,signed letters of

resignation to the company secretary, This "let the PM decide" maneuver does little more than convey to

the shareholder that the board has gone on strike. While this may work for be coolies, it does not work for

company directors.Directors who refuse to work are in breach of their duties as directors, and may liable

for the fall in share prices at Tenaga, Telekom and other Khazanah companies listed on the Bursa Malaysia,
caused by their threat of resignation.