JLC Advisors former managing partner's acts spawn lawsuits

Singapore

BOUTIQUE law firm JLC Advisors has been embroiled in a few civil lawsuits arising from the alleged unlawful acts of its then managing partner Jeffrey Ong Su Aun.

And one of the legal proceedings has a link with the former Geylang property king Tan Hock Keng.

JLC Advisors was brought in as a third party in July by property company Suite Development in a lawsuit that Suite Development is defending against claims of over S$6 million from the British Virgin Islands-registered CCJ Investment.

Suite Development disputes that it is liable for the S$6 million loan CCJ Investment extended to it last February through JLC Advisors and handled by Ong.

It claims that should the court rule in favour of CCJ Investment, the boutique law firm should indemnify it for any compensation and costs including legal fees.

CCJ Investment alleges that it gave a loan of S$6 million to Suite Development, S$3.3 million of which was used to discharge the mortgages over three properties in Tanjong Katong Road, and the remaining S$2.7 million paid through JLC Advisors' client account to Suite Development.

CCJ Investment was provided with a personal guarantee allegedly from Suite Development's sole director and shareholder James Tan Kwang Yong, as well as the latter's shares in Suite Development and the three properties as security.

However, CCJ Investment has not been repaid the principal amount while interest at 3 per cent per month upon default is still running.

It is now suing Suite Development to recover the money and vacant possession of the three properties in question, or the repayment of S$3.3 million that helped discharge the mortgages for the three properties as an alternate claim. Dentons Rodyk & Davidson represents CCJ Investment in this litigation.

Suite Development denies borrowing the fund and alleges that the signatures in the legal documents for the loan and mortgage were forged by Ong and therefore invalid.

It pointed instead to CCJ Investment's negligence, including not verifying the authenticity of the transaction, not ascertaining whether the 43-year-old Ong had the authority to act as Suite Development's lawyer, and ignoring red flags in the deal.

Ong has since been charged with a total of 76 offences, including duping CCJ Investment into disbursing the loan as well as forging signatures of Mr James Tan and company secretary Joel Tan Guang Qian on legal documents for the loan. This criminal matter is ongoing.

The Tans are the sons of Mr Tan Hock Keng, whose businesses were hit by the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.

He was also formerly executive chairman of previously listed Pilecon Engineering in Malaysia.

Ong has represented Astoria Development - now in liquidation and in which the elder Tan is a shareholder - in a few lawsuits related to the Sycamore Tree residential project that it had failed to complete.

As CCJ, Suite and JLC are still engaged in pre-trial actions, the elder Tan applied but failed to join the suit. He argued that his interests are at stake, as the three properties for which he had paid S$2.3 million are held on trust for him by his eldest son.

He had earlier launched a litigation through Drew & Napier, naming his eldest son, his other son Joel Tan as well as Suite Development and another 11 as defendants in February, after CCJ Investment initiated legal proceedings against Suite Development.

He claims in the ongoing litigation that the numerous properties and shares in 10 companies under the defendants' names - estimated to be worth S$50 million to S$60 million - are in fact being held on trust for him. He said he had failed to recover them after his relationship with his sons soured last year.

JLC Advisors said it would file the defence to the third-party claims after the court had decided on Mr Tan's application to intervene in the lawsuit.

Ong made headlines when he was not contactable over the S$33 million held in escrow by JLC Advisors for Catalist-listed Allied Technologies. His alleged involvement in other offences has spawned a few other legal actions for the law firm, besides the one by CCJ Investment.

JLC Advisors had earlier initiated legal proceedings to seek information against OCBC Securities in respect of a sum of US$4.85 million.

It wanted to know which accounts had received the two sums of S$3.2 million each - the Singapore-dollar equivalent of US$4.85 million.

The law firm is also facing a legal action from dormitory operator Aik Chuan Construction for S$3 million - allegedly the unpaid amount of a S$5 million loan, which the plaintiff said was taken out by Ong on behalf of JLC. JLC disputes the claim and has filed counter-claims.