Sunday, August 2, 2020

Singapore's Channel News Asia says Singapore’s dreams of becoming a solar-powered nation have almost arrived; no mention of buying solar energy from Andrew Forrest & Cannon-Brookes

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Singapore seems not to have heard of Andrew Forrest's
Australian-ASEAN Power Link

Singapore's Channel News Asia is reporting that Singapore’s dreams of becoming a solar-powered nation have almost arrived . The report speaks of how Singapore is building its own solar capacity, and it does not include buying solar energy from Andrew Forrest & Cannon-Brookes.

The need for an explanation from Minister For Energy Angus Taylor and the Morrison Government as to why the Forrest & Cannon-Brookes solar energy to Singapore project has been granted Major Project Status is now urgent.

TO BE READ WITH

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Angus Taylor & Australian Government grant billionaires Twiggy & Canon-Brookes solar power to Singapore project Major Project Status: Still no word from Singapore if the supply will be accepted,so why is the Australian Govt throwing money at these billionaires at their sun light white elephant?

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Renew Economy and others have reported:

Minister for industry, science and technology Karen Andrews said on Wednesday that the Australian-ASEAN Power Link (AAPL) for the massive project, planned for the Northern Territory’s Barkly region near Tennant Creek, had been granted Major Project Status.

Federal minister for energy and emissions reduction, Angus Taylor, said the Sun Cable project would maintain Australia’s position as an energy exporting powerhouse.

“Australia has long been a world leader in energy exports,” Minister Taylor said. “As technologies change, we can capitalise on our strengths in renewables to continue to lead the world in energy exports.”

Meanwhile Singapore has had nothing to say about buying this power, and neither have Indonesia or any other ASEAN Country.
TO BE READ WITH

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Australian billionaires propose to do a Bakun where Olivia Lum failed: Twiggy & Canon-Brookes looking decidedly old school, taking after Ting Pek Khiing,and is PwC going to be answerable to investors in this remake of the mid-90s Bakun Undersea Cable disaster

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes' family investment firm, Grok Ventures, will help fund development of a solar-power link between the Northern Territory and Singapore.CREDIT:LOUIE DOUVIS

First the Sydney Morning Herald headline, which seems not to have made any impact in Singapore:

Billionaires invest in 'massive' solar farm to supply power to Singapore

Australian billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest have joined a capital raising of "tens of millions of dollars" to build a huge solar farm in Australia to supply electricity to Singapore.

David Griffin, chief executive of Sun Cable, did not disclose the total investment other than to say it was less than $50 million. Mr Cannon-Brookes and his wife, Annie, were "lead investors" with their family firm Grok Ventures, while Mr Forrest tipped in funds from his Squadron Energy company.

The over-subscribed raising marks the start of what could become a $22 billion plan to build the world's largest solar farm with a 10-gigawatt capacity covering 15,000 hectares near Tennant Creek in the NT, and a 22GW-hour storage plant.

The project would aim to supply competitively priced electricity to the Darwin region and to Singapore via a 4500-kilometre high-voltage cable.

All this brings to mind a slightly less ambitious plan from the mid 90s, which was even easier to fund, and finally died ten years ago despite valiant attempts by less than clean politicians to keep it alive:

RM10b bonds to fund cable project

Damned Corruption Began With Bakun

AND, Singapore's energy market is a tough one, even for local heroes like Olivia Lum, who has got badly burnt by an attempt to diversify into energy generation:

In 2017, Hyflux embarked on a divestment exercise of Tuaspring Integrated Water and Power Project - the company's largest asset - "in line with its asset light strategy", but was unable to finalise any binding bids.

It said that "despite strong initial interest in this project", losses from electricity generation, lack of understanding of Singapore power market by potential buyers and delayed regulatory approval led to "a protracted sale process"

PwC have led the fund raising for the Australian project, and one does wonder about their liability for promoting the project:

The Australia Singapore Power Link (ASPL) aims to supply renewable electricity from a 10GW solar farm to both Darwin and Singapore via a high voltage direct current transmission line – a plan first outlined by Beyond Zero Emissions in August, and which quickly attracted the attention of the likes of Cannon-Brookes.

According to a release from pWc, who guided the fund-raising process, the project will also include a massive 22GWh of battery storage located near Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, with electricity supply transported by a high voltage direct current transmission network, extending 4,500 km from the project site.

END

WuhanCovid data presented by ESRI suggests Gladys Berejiklian, Dan Andrews are neglecting if not ignoring primary hotspot data in order to preserve the ethnic Chinese vote :The costs in the form of loss of income are being borne by all of us

by Ganesh Sahathevan

ESRI is a company that specialises in GIS software. It has presented Australian WuhanCovid data on its website https://covid19-esriau.hub.arcgis.com/.

The first image presented is this.

In lay terms the graph shows that the number of reported cases, which have risen (or are positively correlated) with the the number of tests, rose sharply, slowed and then plateaued during the lockdown of March-June. Cases have started spiking again after the lockdown was been lifted.

The graph does suggest that the WuhanCovid virus was always lurking in the background and that the lockdown did not(in fact could not have possibly) "neutralised" the virus.

The premiers of NSW and Victoria have placed blame on a number of individual incidents that occurred after lockdon, claiming these were "seeding" events that have caused the spike.

Berejiklian of NSW and Andrews of Victoria have both however avoided, perhaps evaded, any reference to the fact that they both allowed into their states travellers from Wuhan and other parts of China throughout January and February despite extensive reporting here and overseas about the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan.

Simple probability would suggest that if a small number of individual cases can be regarded significant seeding events, then plane loads of travellers from China must have posed a far greater risk.

It is a fact that the initial WuhanCovid hotspots in NSW are areas with large ethnic Chinese populations.

As reported by this writer Premier Berejiklian refused to isolate residents in the hotspots for mandatory testing and lockdown:

Willoughby excluded from enhanced WuhanCovid19 testing: It is not racist to target suburbs with a high concentration of Chinese residents living in high rise apartments, in an area that has been identified with the Wuhan Virus.

As stated then and which this writer will repeat:

It is not racist to target suburbs with a high concentration of Chinese residents living in high rise apartments, in an area that has been identified with the Wuhan Virus

A hotspot map for Victoria, for the relevant period ie January and February 2020, has not been located but readers are referred to the story below from the Herald Sun dated 25 January 2020. Readers can decide for themselves if Dan Andrews of Victoria has been negligent in not testing and locking down travellers from China who entered Victoria in and around that time.

Berejiklian and Andrews seem more concerned with not offending their ethnic Chinese vote; they have been fortunate to have had medical officers who seemed only to happy to provide politically correct advice.

The solution then is to focus testing on persons who live in the hotspots, and then from there to attempt a mapping of the spread of the Wuhan Covid virus using well known GIS techniques such as kriging. What is needed are targeted initiatives, not economy wide lockdowns which require hundreds of billions in debt, which will cost us all, notwithstanding the advice of Emma Alberici of the ABC.

END

Reference

News

How deadly Chinese virus came to Australia

Tom Minear and Rebekah Cavanagh

1681 words

25 January 2020

Herald Sun - Online

NLHRSW

English

The man who brought coronavirus to Melbourne may have exposed many others to the deadly illness.

The Chinese national, aged in his 50s, lives in Wuhan, where the new strain originated.

He booked a flight to Melbourne to see family long before he knew he was ill.

Symptom-free, he boarded a plane from the infected city to Guangzhou, a two-hour journey.

The man arrived in Melbourne at 9am on Sunday, January 19, on China Southern Airlines flight CZ321 from Guangzhou. This flight included codeshare passengers for Qantas flight QF330, among four others.

— Were you on China Southern Airlines flight CZ321 from Guangzhou to Melbourne, landing on January 19? Email rebekah.cavanagh@news.com.au flight CZ321 from Guangzhou to Melbourne, landing on January 19? Email

Still, the man felt fine, so no precautions were taken during the 9½ hour flight, seated with hundreds of other passengers sharing the same cabin air.

The man got off the plane at Melbourne Airport and went to stay with family — three adults and a child. He was tired, so slept when he got home, and his symptoms began to show the next day.

State Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said his family contacted their GP on Thursday with concerns for his health. The man went double-masked to the clinic to be assessed.

But the GP did not suspect he had coronavirus, despite being a resident of Wuhan.

The man returned to the family home but his symptoms did not improve.

HOW TO AVOID CONTRACTING CORONAVIRUS

Concerned, his relatives contacted Monash Medical Centre, and he was taken masked through the emergency department to an isolation room.

He remains in isolation, with pneumonia, and is in a stable condition.

The man’s family was staying inside but had not been put into formal isolation with authorities checking in with them daily to ensure they were not showing symptoms.

Chief Health Officer Dr Angie Bone said quarantining the family and everyone on the flight at the centre of the outbreak was “not a sensible approach”.

The man had not been in any public areas since his arrival, and only had contact with his family.

She could not say which suburb he was staying in.

His family is being closely monitored for signs of any symptoms.

PASSENGERS FEAR DEADLY VIRUS

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said all passengers on the affected man’s China Southern Airlines flight CZ321 to Melbourne would be notified.

But passengers aboard the flight told the Sunday Herald Sun of their concern and how they have had no contact from the airline or health authorities about the outbreak.

Some had decided on their own accord to remain locked down in their homes in case they had contracted the virus.

More Victorian patients were on Saturday night being tested for the virus.

Authorities said “a handful” of concerned patients had presented with flu-like symptoms.

The fresh wave of patients tested was expecting to get results on Sunday.

Caulfield North woman Xinwen Xu, 45, was on the same flight as the infected man.

Her daughter Lyn Shen, 21, said she was “feeling very nervous” after hearing about the coronavirus diagnosis on the news.

The family had not been contacted by authorities, but decided to place themselves in isolation as a precautionary measure, Ms Shen said.

“My mother is feeling well, not sick at all, but still will isolate herself in the house, to be safe,” Ms Shen said. “But she is feeling very nervous.”

Jane Shao, 51, from Ashwood also travelled on the plane, but did not visit Wuhan.

She told the Sunday Herald Sun she had felt unwell for a number of days with a sore throat and swollen eyes, and visited her doctor on Friday.

On learning of the confirmed coronavirus case, she said she was “very shocked” and contacted health authorities again.

“Normally I don’t get sick for this long. It doesn’t usually last this long,” Ms Shao said.

She will heed advice from health authorities and return to her GP if her condition worsened.

Another passenger Juan Yang, 35, said the news she may have been exposed to the virus was frightening.

“I feel shocked when I read the news, I will try to stay home for the next week,” Ms Yang said, adding she had not experienced any symptoms.

Officials have been stationed at Melbourne Airport to inform passengers arriving from China about safety precautions.

VICTIM COULD HAVE CAUGHT VIRUS ‘SECOND-HAND’

Dr Bone said it was concerning the GP had not made any link with the man’s illness and the fact he had come from Wuhan.

She said the department had issued an alert to hospitals and GPs on the virus and provided advice about symptoms.

“We ask GPs to ask people presenting with respiratory illness their travel history,” she said.

The victim never went to the market where the virus is expected to have originated and is also not a healthcare worker in China treating suspected patients, Dr Bone said.

“He’s potentially a second-hand case,” she said.

At this stage there is little known about the incubation periods of the virus, she said, so it is unclear when he would have contracted the virus.

Ms Mikakos urged Melburnians not to panic, saying the risk to the public is “low”.

“There is no reason for alarm in the general community,” she said.

“We are doing everything possible to keep the community safe.”

The recent outbreak of coronavirus China has quickly spread to other parts of the world.

Seven other Australians are under investigation for the virus including five in NSW.

The death toll continues to rise in China, with 41 confirmed deaths and more than 850 people infected.

Construction on a special 1000-bed hospital is underway in Wuhan as the city struggles to cope with the number of infected patients in the city.

Authorities in China have put 14 cities in lockdown, closed parts of the Great Wall of China and Disneyland in Shanghai.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said: “Australia has world-class health systems with processes for the identification and treatment of cases, including isolation facilities in each state and territory, these processes have been activated.”

“Our laboratories have developed testing processes for this novel coronavirus that can provide a level of certainty within a day,’’ he said.

Minister Hunt said Victorian and Commonwealth authorities would be undertaking “contact tracing” for passengers who travelled on this flight and to provide them with information and advice.

Federal, state and territory health ministers held a joint teleconference to discuss how the nation will respond to coronavirus.

Mr Hunt said “we will be meeting all flights from China” and increasing information about the virus at airports.

Doctors will also receive new alerts about coronavirus, and its symptoms, through the Australia Medical Association and The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, he said.

“We are working with the AMA and the RACGP to ensure that all doctors are fully informed of and alert to symptoms of coronavirus,” Mr Hunt wrote on Twitter.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a “level 4: do not travel” alert for Wuhan and Hubei Province in China overnight.

The alert has been published on the Smart Traveller website.

The advice level for China as a whole has not changed.

Australian Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy said Victoria had acted swiftly and appropriately.

“Victoria has followed its strict protocols, including isolating the affected person. I understand the patient has pneumonia and is in a stable condition,’’ Prof Murphy said.

“We don’t know exactly how long symptoms take to show after a person has been infected, but there is an incubation period and some patients will have very mild symptoms.

“Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, vomiting and difficulty breathing. Difficulty breathing is a sign of possible pneumonia and requires immediate medical attention.

“People who arrive in Australia from an international flight with these symptoms should alert their airline, or a biosecurity officer if they have disembarked.”

AIRPORT TRAVELLERS MASKED AGAINST MENACE

Little Tina Wang walked through Melbourne Airport with her father, Tony, wearing a princess dress and a face mask.

“I don’t want to risk her catching the disease,” Mr Wang said of the five-year-old from Shanghai. “I want to keep her safe.”

Just one of scores of Chinese nationals arriving at Melbourne Airport on Saturday wearing face masks for protection from coronavirus, Mr Wang said he was taking no chances with his little girl’s health.

Melbourne University student Helen Li, who arrived on a later plane from Chengdu, Sichuan, said almost every passenger on her flight wore face masks, out of fear of contracting the killer virus. “They really only took the masks off to eat, otherwise they kept them on all the time,” Ms Li, 21, said.

The Chinese-born music student had been holidaying at home with her family in Sichuan, when news broke of coronavirus claiming lives.

“Mum was so worried about the virus she sent me back to Australia,” Ms Li said.

It was not until the plane touched down that she learned, via a message from a friend, there had been a confirmed cause of coronavirus in Melbourne, with a man in his 50s from Wuhan falling ill and hospitalised.

Borneo Samudera v Sabah Deputy CM Christina Liew: Damages of even 5 Sen can have implications for all concerned

by Ganesh Sahathevan

The reports below concern Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Christina Lie.w The relevant parts read as follows. First:

The hearing of an appeal filed by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew (pic) and one other at the Court of Appeal to overturn a decision of a High Court six years ago (in 2014) which ordered them to pay RM557 million in damages in a land grab suit, has been postponed to a date to be fixed later.
The High Court in its judgement found that Borneo Samudera SB (BSSB) had proven the requisite conditions in law of inducement of breach of contract. BSSB had claimed damages of RM557,641,716.29

Next:
Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Christina Liew (pic), said the High Court in Tawau did not order RM557 million damages against her in its decision in 2014 on a case that was commenced by BSSB (Borneo Samudera Sdn Bhd) against her.
“The High Court merely ordered BSSB’s claim for damages to be assessed by the Deputy Registrar, High Court of Tawau.

“The front page headline on the High Court judgment with the heading ‘Liew To Pay Record RM557 Million’ in the Daily Express (dated October 26, 2014), was wrong and misleading,” she said.

Now, let us assume that BSSB’s claim for damages (is) assessed by the Deputy Registrar, High Court of Tawau to be 5 SEN.

Readers can the decide for themselves how such an award might affect all parties concerned. Naturally, the upcoming Sabah Election ought to form part of the considerations.

TO BE READ WITH

Liew’s appeal hearing postponed

Published on: Wednesday, June 17, 2020

By: Jo Ann Mool

Text Size:

KOTA KINABALU: The hearing of an appeal filed by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew (pic) and one other at the Court of Appeal to overturn a decision of a High Court six years ago which ordered them to pay RM557 million in damages in a land grab suit, has been postponed to a date to be fixed later.

Counsel Mark Sitiwin, representing the respondent in the appeal, when contacted by the media, said he was informed of the adjournment during the e-Review of the appeal on Tuesday.

The appellants, Liew and Samsuri Baharuddin were appealing against the Tawau High Court decision on Sept 30, 2014, which ordered three people – including an elected representative – to pay damages to Borneo Samudera Sdn Bhd (BSSB) for unlawfully inducing the Bagahak Smallholders Scheme participants to breach their Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with BSSB.

The High Court in its judgement found that BSSB had proven the requisite conditions in law of inducement of breach of contract. BSSB had claimed damages of RM557,641,716.29.

No such RM557mil court award against me: Christina Liew

Published on: Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Text Size:

KOTA KINABALU: Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Christina Liew (pic), said the High Court in Tawau did not order RM557 million damages against her in its decision in 2014 on a case that was commenced by BSSB (Borneo Samudera Sdn Bhd) against her.

“The High Court merely ordered BSSB’s claim for damages to be assessed by the Deputy Registrar, High Court of Tawau.

“The front page headline on the High Court judgment with the heading ‘Liew To Pay Record RM557 Million’ in the Daily Express (dated October 26, 2014), was wrong and misleading,” she said.

[This was later duly and prominently clarified by Daily Express when it was made known that it was not the actual amount assessed by the court. Similar reports were also carried by other relevant media as it was based on an official statement issued by BSSB then].

However, Liew said, one Leksun Bin Injil (former smallholder) used this to defame her by publishing or causing to be published or contributed to the publication of defamatory statements against her in a video recording of himself that became viral in social media via WhatsApp and Facebook.

The MP for Tawau and Api-Api Assemblywoman was rebutting allegations made against her in a defamation suit she filed against the former smallholder of the Bagahak Scheme in Lahad Datu, in the High Court here, Monday.

The report in question that was based on a statement issued to all media in 2014.

She said the video recording took place in May 2018, two to four days before polling day on May 9, during the 14th General Election (GE14)

She told the Court that the video contained the report published in the Daily Express and the same article in Bahasa Malaysia titled “Liew, Dua Lagi Disaman RM557 juta”.

Liew also wants an injunction to restrain the Defendant from publishing or causing to be published or contributing to the publication of the video.

According to her, the court was told that the oil palm smallholders’ land lots were surrendered to a joint venture company between the smallholders and BSSB in July 1998. BSSB is a subsidiary of state-owned Sawit Kinabalu Sdn Bhd.

In the video, Leksun claimed that Liew was a cheat, a dishonest and deceitful person who was unsuitable to be a candidate for the Api-Api State Constituency (N15) and Tawau Parliamentary Constituency (P190) in GE14; she had deceived and or defrauded the smallholders, including the defendant, of their lots in the Bagahak Scheme by inducing the smallholders to sell their lots; and the defendant would lodge a complaint against the Plaintiff to the Disciplinary Board of the Sabah Law Society (SLS) so that the Plaintiff’s practising licence be revoked.

“I am suing the defendant for libel or alternatively damages for slander in respect of a video circulated widely via WhatsApp. The words uttered by the defendant in the video are malicious and false which are defamatory to me.

“It was an attempt to injure my reputation in my former profession as Advocate and to mislead members of the public not to vote for me as a candidate in the Api-Api Constituency and the Tawau Parliamentary Constituency in the 14th GE.

“The Defendant deliberately withheld or out of sheer ignorance failed to explain the status and nature of the pending cases under litigation and arbitration, which involved the smallholders of the Bagahak

Scheme, including the defendant himself as one of the parties.

“Therefore, in the circumstances and as the cases under litigation are still before the courts for determination, the defendant has committed contempt of court by causing transmission or causing to be transmitted or contributing to the transmission of the widely-circulated, false and misleading video in the social media.”

It was also pointed out that the defendant’s statement (in the video) that he was a smallholder was wrong and misleading.

“The Defendant is no longer a smallholder of the Bagahak Scheme because under the terms of the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) dated July 9, 1998, entered into between Borneo Samudera Sdn Bhd (BSSB) and the smallholders of the Bagahak Scheme, he (Defendant) and the other smallholders surrendered all their rights and interests in their respective lots in exchange for shares in a Joint Venture company called Cemasjaya Berhad,” she further said.

On how she came to act for the smallholders, Liew said the 900 smallholders instructed her former legal firm to commence action against BSSB in two cases registered in Court under Suit T41 and Suit T42 of 2007.

In Suit T41, the defendant (Leksun) and smallholders of the Bagahak Scheme sued BSSB for return of their lots, which they had surrendered to BSSB in 1998. They (smallholders) had asked the court to declare the JVA (July 9, 1998) unenforceable and ineffective for non-fulfilment of the conditions precedent provided under the JVA.

The Plaintiff asserted that because of the video, her character, reputation, credibility and integrity as a person, a former practising advocate at the material time, a State Assembly person and a Member of Parliament, have been injured and/or damaged amongst and in the eyes of the public at large, especially her friends, acquaintances, the business community and others.

“Furthermore, I had suffered severe embarrassment and deep distress as a result of the video being widely circulated on social media platforms,” she said.

She said a Sabah Kita article with a screenshot of the video recording attached, was also shared on Sabah Kita’s Facebook. “This is very damaging to my reputation.”

Datuk Alex Decena assisted by Jordan Kong is the counsel for Liew. Chong Kian Ming is counsel for the defendant. The trial before Judicial Commissioner Justice Leonard Shim continues today.

Australia's College Of Law will formulate and teach "ASEAN Law", surpassing NUS and other leading ASEAN law schools, and setting the stage for Australian arbitrators to corner the market in ASEAN Law disputes

by Ganesh Sahathevan

bar council

This offering appears to have been suspended

Top tier international law firm JonesDay summaries the state of play with regards "ASEAN Law" :

A key obstacle to investment in the ASEAN region is the patchwork of laws governing business insolvency and reorganization, with different approaches and philosophies, creating uncertainty and inefficiency for growing cross-border investment.

Meanwhile Australia's College Of Law will formulate and teach "ASEAN Law", surpassing NUS and other leading law schools in the ASEAN region:

MASTER OF LAWS (APPLIED LAW) IN ASEAN+6 LEGAL PRACTICE

Understanding the context in cross-border practice is essential for ASEAN lawyers.Whether you want to expand your knowledge of cross-border practice or enhance your career opportunities, our cross-border subjects are the first of their kind.

The College also says that it is formulating ASEAN law subjects in collaboration with the Singapore Law Society:

The College of Law and The Law Society of Singapore have committed to develop and deliver legal education and training programmes to meet the needs of the legal profession in Singapore. This shared commitment was marked by a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by Gregory Vijayendran SC, President of Law Society, and Neville Carter, Group Chief Executive Officer of The College of Law, on 19 March 2018 in Singapore.

Gregory Vijayendran SC described the collaboration with The College of Law as historic, as this is the first time the Law Society has collaborated with a legal education provider. The collaboration will drive thought leadership in legal education policy and aims to develop a wide range of courses, with a series of subjects involving ASEAN law to start with.

Naturally, given such ground breaking work lawyers in the ASEAN region will be silly to not choose Australia and in particular Sydney as their preferred forum for arbitration.

Meanwhile, questions about the College's work in Malaysia, a leading common law jurisdiction within ASEAN, remain unanswered.

TO BE READ WITH

Bar Council education ‘JV’ must be clarified

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