SINGAPORE
— For over two years, a legal executive bribed a Traffic Police clerk to obtain
the contact numbers of 23 people involved in traffic accidents.
Once
Gulzar Raja Singh Sandhu got the contact details from the clerk, Madam Khatijah
A Manap, he would cold-call these accident victims and on some occasions,
offered the services of his daughter, a lawyer at Clifford Law LLP.
On
Friday (Nov 9), Raja, 71, who is no longer working for the law firm, was handed
an 18-week jail sentence after he pleaded guilty to 11 corruption charges and
to contravening the Official Secrets Act.
Another
22 other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Madam
Khatijah, 63, was sentenced to 18 weeks' jail in 2016 for her role in similar
offences, which took place between 2010 and 2013.
Raja’s
misdeeds were uncovered in 2013 after a traffic accident victim, who was
contacted by Madam Khatijah twice in two years for separate accidents,
complained to a senior Traffic Police officer.
The
court heard that Raja first met Madam Khatijah in 2008 after she was involved
in a traffic accident herself. She was then introduced to Raja's daughter, Ms
Viviene Sandhu, and later managed to receive a payout from her accident claims
in 2010.
On
Clifford Law's website, it is stated that Ms Sandhu's main area of expertise is
insurance litigation, and she has represented many insured claimants who were
involved in ship collisions, motor accidents and fatal accidents, among others
in her 20-year career.
Raja
was then in charge of meeting and interviewing clients at Clifford Law.
Sometime
in late 2010, he approached Madam Khatijah with the idea of getting her to sell
the particulars of traffic accident victims, and for each successful contact
who eventually engaged Clifford Law, she would be paid S$200.
The
two would then take turns to contact the accident victims and ask them if they
wanted to file a compensation claim.
At
first, Raja paid Madam Khatijah in cash, but later, he would sometimes transfer
the money to her bank account, and the sum amounted to at least S$2,500.
Investigations were unable to ascertain how much cash she received.
Calling
for an 18-week jail term for Raja, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Eugene Sng
said that the case had the potential to cause public disquiet because "the
public expects that personal particulars provided to the authorities will be
kept confidential".
While
Raja was not a public servant, he had initiated the arrangement knowing Madam
Khatijah was one, DPP Sng said.
The
prosecutor also noted that the offences would not have taken place if not for
Raja.
In
his mitigation plea, defence lawyer Amolat Singh mentioned his client's old age
and the toll of the proceedings on his health. He asked for a jail term of five
weeks.
However,
DPP Sng said that 18 weeks is not long, and there is no evidence that Raja will
suffer significant hardship or deterioration in health while in prison.
Raja’s
jail sentence will start immediately.
For
each corruption charge, he could have been jailed up to five years, or fined up
to S$100,000.
The
maximum penalty for each charge of receiving information protected under the
Official Secrets Act is two years’ jail and a fine of up to S$2,000.
Source : TodAYONLINE
Forex Trading Scams to Watch
The
forex market involves very active trading of over $1 trillion each day, not
including futures and currency options, which put the trading at closer to $5
trillion daily. The market does not have
much in the way of regulation, although things have started to improve
recently.
The
opportunity still exists for many forex scams, which tempt new investors with a
promise of quick fortunes through "secret trading formulas" or
algorithm-based "proprietary" trading methodologies. Before choosing
a broker or platform, go through your own due diligence by visiting BASIC, or
the Background Affiliation Status Information Center, created by the
self-regulatory NFA (National Futures Association).
01
Signal Sellers
Stock
Market Illustration
One
of the challenges a rookie forex investor faces is determining which operators
to trust in the forex market and which to avoid. Signal sellers make a good
example.
Basically,
a signal seller is offering a system that purports to identify favorable times
for buying or selling a currency pair. The system may be manual, where the
trader enters the info and gets a result, or it may be automated.
Some
systems rely on technical analysis, others rely on breaking news and many
employ some combination of the two. But they all purport to provide information
that leads to favorable trading opportunities. Signal sellers usually charge a
daily, weekly or monthly fee for their services.
Some
analysts propose that many or even most signal sellers are scam artists. A
frequent criticism is that if it were really possible to use a system to beat
the market, why would the individual or firm that has this information make it
widely available? Wouldn't it make more sense to use this incredible signaling
system to make huge profits?
Other
analysts distinguish between known scammers and more reputable information
sources such as Metatrader, that offer a well-thought-out signaling service.
Behind
these opposing views lies a larger difference of opinion about whether anyone
can predict the next move in a trading market. This fundamental disagreement
won't be settled any time soon. Nobel Prize-winning Economist Eugene Fama
proposes in his well-regarded Efficient Market Hypothesis that finding these
kinds of momentary market advantages really isn't possible.
His
economist colleague, Robert Shiller, also a Nobel Prize winner, believes
differently, citing evidence that investor sentiment creates booms and busts
that can provide investment and trading opportunities.
The
best way to determine if a signal seller can benefit you is to open a paper
money or practice trading account with one of the better-known forex brokers.
Be patient, and eventually, you'll determine whether predictive signaling works
for you or doesn't.
02
Phony Forex Investment Management Funds
In
the world of investing, outrageous claims are the surest sign of potential
fraud
In
the past few years, forex management funds have proliferated. Most of these, if
not all, are scams. They offer an investor the "opportunity" to have
his forex trades managed by highly-skilled forex traders who can offer
outstanding market returns in return for a share of the profits.
The
problem is, this "management" offer requires the investor to give up
control over his money and to hand it to someone he knows little about other
than the hyped-up and often completely false record of success available on the
scammer's website and brochures.
The
investor often ends up getting nothing, while the scammer uses investors' funds
to buy yachts and private islands.
A
good rule of thumb in the forex market, as with other investments, is that if
it sounds almost too good to be true, such as annual returns of more than 100
percent, for example, it's almost certainly a scam.
03
Dishonest Brokers
Trader
watching stocks crash on screen
Although the forex market is not entirely
unregulated, it has no central regulating authority. The forex spot market is
completely unregulated and accounts for the majority of trades. Unsurprisingly,
some forex brokers do not deal fairly with their customers and, in some
instances, defraud them.
You
have two ways to avoid bad brokers. Before engaging a forex broker, look the
brokerage up on a website that identifies dishonest forex brokers. Better yet,
trade with a broker that also handles other stock market trades and is subject
to SEC and FINRA oversight. While the forex trade itself may be unregulated, no
broker subject to such oversight would risk its license for other securities by
defrauding its forex customers.
