Lawyer suspended for forging court judgements
Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE: He wanted to help his friend resolve his marital problems, but lawyer Dixon Ng did it the wrong way — and got a two—year suspension for his pains.
In January 2006, Ng forged two court judgements to help businessman Vincent Ng placate his wife. The latter was an engineer with his own firm, JCV Consultants, and a director of RJ Crocker Consultants.
The businessman was allegedly involved in an affair with a Shanghainese lounge hostess who had run off with $150,000 belonging to his wife.
Meanwhile, his two companies had filed claims against two other firms for non—payment; Ng was the lawyer in both cases.
Ng wanted to help his friend mollify his wife by giving her the impression that a sum close to what she had lost was coming in. So, the lawyer created two judgements to falsely state that $120,000 was arising from the two claims. In reality, neither of the cases reached the courts.
Two months later, Vincent Ng filed a complaint with the Law Society against Dixon Ng about the draft judgements.
On Tuesday, the lawyer told the Court of Three Judges he had never intended to pass the drafts off as proper judgements and had not attempted to mislead anyone.
"I had a close friend who was being physically abused by his wife. I had to pick him up in the middle of the night in the middle of a road because his wife hit him while driving. And he called me, crying," said Ng.
"I did not do this for any purpose other than to assist my friend, whom I thought was my friend at that time."
Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong said, while he appreciated that Ng wanted to help, it was a serious offence to create documents. "You did not obtain any monetary benefit but nevertheless, a court document is a court document. Anyone looking at a court document will be influenced by it," he said.
Later, Ng told reporters that his friend had filed the complaint because the two had fallen out over money. — TODAY
Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE: He wanted to help his friend resolve his marital problems, but lawyer Dixon Ng did it the wrong way — and got a two—year suspension for his pains.
In January 2006, Ng forged two court judgements to help businessman Vincent Ng placate his wife. The latter was an engineer with his own firm, JCV Consultants, and a director of RJ Crocker Consultants.
The businessman was allegedly involved in an affair with a Shanghainese lounge hostess who had run off with $150,000 belonging to his wife.
Meanwhile, his two companies had filed claims against two other firms for non—payment; Ng was the lawyer in both cases.
Ng wanted to help his friend mollify his wife by giving her the impression that a sum close to what she had lost was coming in. So, the lawyer created two judgements to falsely state that $120,000 was arising from the two claims. In reality, neither of the cases reached the courts.
Two months later, Vincent Ng filed a complaint with the Law Society against Dixon Ng about the draft judgements.
On Tuesday, the lawyer told the Court of Three Judges he had never intended to pass the drafts off as proper judgements and had not attempted to mislead anyone.
"I had a close friend who was being physically abused by his wife. I had to pick him up in the middle of the night in the middle of a road because his wife hit him while driving. And he called me, crying," said Ng.
"I did not do this for any purpose other than to assist my friend, whom I thought was my friend at that time."
Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong said, while he appreciated that Ng wanted to help, it was a serious offence to create documents. "You did not obtain any monetary benefit but nevertheless, a court document is a court document. Anyone looking at a court document will be influenced by it," he said.
Later, Ng told reporters that his friend had filed the complaint because the two had fallen out over money. — TODAY
