http://www.singaporelawwatch.com/sl...-insurance-association-sued-over-dud-mba.html
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Straits Times
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22 Jan 2013
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Sandra Davie
Financial adviser says it didn't do checks before promoting course
A FINANCIAL adviser is suing a professional body after his MBA turned out to be unaccredited.
Mr Davy Goh Peng Yang signed up for the course after it was advertised by the Insurance and Financial Practitioners Association of Singapore.
But he later found out the Canadian school offering it had not been formally recognised as a university.
The 35-year-old has now launched a $15,000 lawsuit accusing the insurance agents' body of misrepresentation. He says it did not conduct proper checks before asking members to sign up for the MBA, which stands for Master of Business Administration.
The case follows a Straits Times expose two years ago that showed about 100 agents from large insurance houses such as Great Eastern had unaccredited MBAs from the same Canadian school, Vancouver University.
Mr Goh completed the course in 2005. But a year later, he signed up for the school's doctorate programme - only to find out it was not recognised as a university by the province of British Columbia. By then, he had already paid $17,000 of the $22,000 in fees for the doctorate.
He asked for a refund but the association refused, claiming it was responsible only for marketing the course. It said the programme was run jointly by the Canadian school and CPPD Systems Associates, a firm headed by retired Nanyang Technological University professor B.C. Ghosh.
Mr Goh took the association to court in 2011 to try to get his doctorate fees back. It then countersued for the $5,000 that he had not yet paid. Last month, the insurance agents' body lost the case. A district judge ruled it had failed to deliver the doctorate programme and ordered it to refund Mr Goh's fees, although he did give it permission to sue CPPD in order to recover the money.
Now, Mr Goh has filed another lawsuit against the association - this time over his MBA. "If it's unaccredited, it means it has not been through the proper checks for academic quality," he said.
"I thought (the association) would do the proper checks before asking its members to sign up for a degree."
Media reports say Vancouver University ran for more than a decade, despite not having accreditation from the Canadian government. In 2007, a shut-down order was served on it by the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
Its MBA programme was transferred to International University (IU) in Vienna. But the Austrian Embassy in Singapore then confirmed that IU was not on its list of approved private universities.
Court documents reveal that the insurance agents' association - which has more than 4,000 members - was advised by its lawyers to write to the Minister for Higher Education in British Columbia to check the status of the Vancouver school.
But the minutes of a 2007 meeting show one of its committee members saying that it was best not to do this in case the findings turned out to be "unfavourable". He added that if students sued and CPPD went bankrupt, the association would have to bear the full liability.
Its current president, Mr Tommy Wee, told The Straits Times that although last month's judgment did not go in its favour, it was grateful that the court had allowed it to claim against CPPD.
"We will refund Mr Goh the fees, as directed by the court, and are now seeking legal advice on how to pursue our case against CPPD. We would like to point out Mr Goh's case was unique, involving the non-delivery of the DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) programme - not the credentials of the said university."
[email protected]
Source: Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction.
<label for="headlines_source" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">Source</label>
Straits Times
<label for="headlines_source_publication_date" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">Date</label>
22 Jan 2013
<label for="headlines_author" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial;">Author</label>
Sandra Davie
Financial adviser says it didn't do checks before promoting course
A FINANCIAL adviser is suing a professional body after his MBA turned out to be unaccredited.
Mr Davy Goh Peng Yang signed up for the course after it was advertised by the Insurance and Financial Practitioners Association of Singapore.
But he later found out the Canadian school offering it had not been formally recognised as a university.
The 35-year-old has now launched a $15,000 lawsuit accusing the insurance agents' body of misrepresentation. He says it did not conduct proper checks before asking members to sign up for the MBA, which stands for Master of Business Administration.
The case follows a Straits Times expose two years ago that showed about 100 agents from large insurance houses such as Great Eastern had unaccredited MBAs from the same Canadian school, Vancouver University.
Mr Goh completed the course in 2005. But a year later, he signed up for the school's doctorate programme - only to find out it was not recognised as a university by the province of British Columbia. By then, he had already paid $17,000 of the $22,000 in fees for the doctorate.
He asked for a refund but the association refused, claiming it was responsible only for marketing the course. It said the programme was run jointly by the Canadian school and CPPD Systems Associates, a firm headed by retired Nanyang Technological University professor B.C. Ghosh.
Mr Goh took the association to court in 2011 to try to get his doctorate fees back. It then countersued for the $5,000 that he had not yet paid. Last month, the insurance agents' body lost the case. A district judge ruled it had failed to deliver the doctorate programme and ordered it to refund Mr Goh's fees, although he did give it permission to sue CPPD in order to recover the money.
Now, Mr Goh has filed another lawsuit against the association - this time over his MBA. "If it's unaccredited, it means it has not been through the proper checks for academic quality," he said.
"I thought (the association) would do the proper checks before asking its members to sign up for a degree."
Media reports say Vancouver University ran for more than a decade, despite not having accreditation from the Canadian government. In 2007, a shut-down order was served on it by the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
Its MBA programme was transferred to International University (IU) in Vienna. But the Austrian Embassy in Singapore then confirmed that IU was not on its list of approved private universities.
Court documents reveal that the insurance agents' association - which has more than 4,000 members - was advised by its lawyers to write to the Minister for Higher Education in British Columbia to check the status of the Vancouver school.
But the minutes of a 2007 meeting show one of its committee members saying that it was best not to do this in case the findings turned out to be "unfavourable". He added that if students sued and CPPD went bankrupt, the association would have to bear the full liability.
Its current president, Mr Tommy Wee, told The Straits Times that although last month's judgment did not go in its favour, it was grateful that the court had allowed it to claim against CPPD.
"We will refund Mr Goh the fees, as directed by the court, and are now seeking legal advice on how to pursue our case against CPPD. We would like to point out Mr Goh's case was unique, involving the non-delivery of the DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) programme - not the credentials of the said university."
[email protected]
Source: Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction.
