Bankrupt in Malaysia made

bankrupt here for same

debts
PUBLISHED
NOV 24, 2016, 5:00 AM SGT

K.C. Vijayan
Senior Law Correspondent

The High Court has ruled that a retiree made bankrupt in Malaysia
can also be made bankrupt in Singapore for the same debts owed
there.

In a test case, the High Court overruled a lower court decision and
declared Malaysian Ling Lee Soon, 71, bankrupt for owing RM58
million (S$18.7 million) to the Lembaga Tabung Angakatan Tentera
(Malaysia) or Armed Forces Fund Board of Malaysia.

Writing in the judgment grounds issued last week, Justice Woo Bih Li
rejected Mr Ling's claim that the Board's real aim was to embarrass
him with the Singapore court proceedings rather than recover a debt
from him.

Given that Mr Ling had already been made bankrupt in Malaysia, the
Board would not "deliberately throw good money after bad just to
embarrass him", said Justice Woo.

Mr Ling, described as a retiree- cum-company director in the Kuala

Lumpur court proceedings in 2013, is said to be a director of two
companies in Singapore with a registered address in Temasek
Boulevard.

The Board, which had obtained judgment for the sum against him in
Kuala Lumpur in 2014, had sought to recover the money in Singapore
when he failed to pay and it could not trace any significant
unencumbered assets owned by him in Malaysia.

It obtained a Singapore court order to enforce the Malaysian judgment

in May last year but was notified in September by Mr Ling's lawyer
that he was unable to settle.

In December, he was made bankrupt, owing to the application of

another creditor. But the Board's application to have him similarly
bankrupted in Singapore failed before an assistant registrar in June
this year, who ordered costs to be paid to him.

The Board, which was represented by Morgan Lewis Stamford lawyer

Adrian Tan, appealed and argued that Mr Ling had been living and
was settled in Singapore at least a year before the bankruptcy
application, as required under the Bankruptcy Act.

Mr Ling argued through his lawyer, Mr Roy Lim from Robert Wang &
Woo, that he considered home to be Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and
Sibu, and he had only a long-term visit pass to visit relatives in
Singapore.

Justice Woo found the claim to be "untenable" as Mr Ling himself had

given a Singapore Grange Road residential address to a Malaysian
court in 2013, among other things.

The judge said the Bankruptcy Act does not preclude the making of
concurrent bankruptcy orders in Malaysia and Singapore, or it would
have been worded by Parliament to dismiss any Singapore bankruptcy
application if there were a prior Malaysian order.

Justice Woo said the purpose of the application was to appoint the
Official Assignee to probe if Mr Ling had assets in Singapore that
could be recovered to pay his debt.

"In other words, the making of the bankruptcy order in Singapore was
not an academic exercise," said Justice Woo.

Mr Ling is taking the case to the Court of Appeal.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 24, 2016, with the
headline 'Bankrupt in Malaysia made bankrupt here for same debts'. Print Edition | Subscribe