Lawyer Jailed 11 Months For Forgery And Lies

Source : The Straits Times, Nov 30, 2007

He altered stamp duty payable by client and lied about address to get his child into top school.

HE WILL spend the next 11 months in jail but the immediate future of his 10-year-old daughter is less certain.

Lawyer Tan Sok Ling, 40, pleaded guilty last week to lying about his residential address in order to secure his daughter a place at a reputable school in Bukit Timah. He also admitted to altering the stamp duty payable for a property transaction from $8,100 to $13,500.

Yesterday he was sentenced to nine months’ jail for forgery and two months for giving false information. Two other forgery charges and another of giving false information were considered.

As for his daughter’s fate in the school, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said it will consider the court’s ruling in deciding the course of action for the child.
Tan, who was called to the Bar in 1993, is currently under a 12-month suspension for breaching the Solicitors Accounts Rules between 2002 and 2003.

The owner of the now-defunct firm of Tan S.L. & Partners was representing Mr Kwang Siang Jin, 46, a buyer of a Thomson Park house, when he forged the stamp duty certificate in March last year.

Mr Kwang paid $13,500 for stamp duties for the purchase of the property, not knowing that the actual figure was only $8,100.

When he found out three months later, he demanded a refund and Tan complied.

Earlier in 2003, Tan’s family was living in Bedok when he decided to rent a place within the 1km radius of the Bukit Timah school in order to enrol his daughter there.

He managed to find a unit at Maplewoods Condominium and paid a $1,600 monthly rent for 41/2 months from April 2003. He told the property agent that he was not going to live there but wanted to use the address.

After signing the licence agreement, he went to the Siglap Neighbourhood Police Post on July 6 that year to change his address to the Bukit Timah one when he knew that it was false.

His daughter, now 10, was admitted to the school. But he was found out after an MOE official lodged a police report on Dec 19 that year stating that two applicants at the 2003 Primary 1 registration exercise had used the same address.

Mr Peter Cuthbert Low of law firm Colin Ng & Partners said his client cooperated fully with the police, made restitution even before he was charged, and was genuinely remorseful.

Citing aggravating factors in the case, District Judge Liew Thiam Leng said the offence involved fraud and dishonesty as well as premeditation. Tan had abused his position of trust as a lawyer and his conduct undermined public confidence in the legal profession.

Tan could have been jailed for up to seven years for forgery. For giving false information to a public servant, the maximum penalty is six months’ jail or $1,000 fine or both.