Tan Kin Lian: “I was particularly criticised for a few bad investments - particularly, the investment in Club Nuansa and Ciputra Mall. These two investments caused us to write off perhaps $30m.”
In his video to explain why he was told to leave NTUC Income a few years ago, TKL admitted that about $30m was lost due to Income’s investment in Club Nuansa and Ciputra Mall.
For the time being, I do not intend to talk about the monies lost by Income or its business strategies under TKL.
But with his statement, TKL has affirmed his personal involvement in the TIMESHARE business, Club Nuansa, about which I had written in an earlier note.
Note that in the video, TKL deliberately avoided mentioning that the policy-holders and members of the public who subscribed to the timeshare scheme each lost over $10k when the timeshare business folded in 2005. They lost the bulk of the $16k entrance fee they paid to join the scheme.
The reality is that there is a close parallel between The Club Nuansa Affair, and the Minibond Saga which TKL rather vigorously fought for in 2008.
Both are not simple financial/investment products that should have been peddled to any person off-the-street. Such schemes are infamous for their hard-sell and deceptive tactics to “persuade” people to part with their monies.
The Minibond Saga arose because undue financial promises were made as part of the sale of structured investment products. Guarantees were made that they would get back their principal sums when the investment notes were eventually redeemed. However, critical facts were hidden from the lay investors.
The investors only realised their financial vulnerabilities after the US banks failed. It led to the unravelling of their investment products they had invested in. The investors lost most, if not all, their monies.
Similarly, Club Nuansa made several promises to the potential members. Income policy-holders were told that their club entrance fee of $16k would be returned to them at the end of the 30-year period under a so-called “Payback Scheme”. According to those who signed up, this was the most enticing element of the timeshare scheme.
Income and Alliance Technology and Development (ATD), the majority shareholder, also spoke of outlandishly ambitious plans for Club Nuansa – they spoke of investing $500m in a resort chain with 20 or 30 destinations.
But one critical piece of information was hidden from members - they were also not told that Club Nuansa was registered as a company in the British Virgin Islands. Companies are usually registered as such offshore companies to avoid native tax liabilities or stringent legal jurisdiction.
In this case, being registered in BVI made it difficult for the timeshare members to seek legal redress.
If this important fact was made known to the potential members, most of them would have balked at joining it since it would have appeared very suspicious.
We know that TKL gained much fame and goodwill when he championed the cause of the local minibond victims by organising collective actions and petitions to the authorities to voice their grievances. That was in 2008.
However in 2005 when Club Nuansa was being wound up, TKL was not as energetic in helping the policy-holders recover their funds based on the “guarantees” given by Income and ATD.
Instead, he then, as well as now, shifts the blame elsewhere – the Income board of directors. This is a recurring bad habit which I will be talking about in subsequent articles.
Stay tuned
In his video to explain why he was told to leave NTUC Income a few years ago, TKL admitted that about $30m was lost due to Income’s investment in Club Nuansa and Ciputra Mall.
For the time being, I do not intend to talk about the monies lost by Income or its business strategies under TKL.
But with his statement, TKL has affirmed his personal involvement in the TIMESHARE business, Club Nuansa, about which I had written in an earlier note.
Note that in the video, TKL deliberately avoided mentioning that the policy-holders and members of the public who subscribed to the timeshare scheme each lost over $10k when the timeshare business folded in 2005. They lost the bulk of the $16k entrance fee they paid to join the scheme.
The reality is that there is a close parallel between The Club Nuansa Affair, and the Minibond Saga which TKL rather vigorously fought for in 2008.
Both are not simple financial/investment products that should have been peddled to any person off-the-street. Such schemes are infamous for their hard-sell and deceptive tactics to “persuade” people to part with their monies.
The Minibond Saga arose because undue financial promises were made as part of the sale of structured investment products. Guarantees were made that they would get back their principal sums when the investment notes were eventually redeemed. However, critical facts were hidden from the lay investors.
The investors only realised their financial vulnerabilities after the US banks failed. It led to the unravelling of their investment products they had invested in. The investors lost most, if not all, their monies.
Similarly, Club Nuansa made several promises to the potential members. Income policy-holders were told that their club entrance fee of $16k would be returned to them at the end of the 30-year period under a so-called “Payback Scheme”. According to those who signed up, this was the most enticing element of the timeshare scheme.
Income and Alliance Technology and Development (ATD), the majority shareholder, also spoke of outlandishly ambitious plans for Club Nuansa – they spoke of investing $500m in a resort chain with 20 or 30 destinations.
But one critical piece of information was hidden from members - they were also not told that Club Nuansa was registered as a company in the British Virgin Islands. Companies are usually registered as such offshore companies to avoid native tax liabilities or stringent legal jurisdiction.
In this case, being registered in BVI made it difficult for the timeshare members to seek legal redress.
If this important fact was made known to the potential members, most of them would have balked at joining it since it would have appeared very suspicious.
We know that TKL gained much fame and goodwill when he championed the cause of the local minibond victims by organising collective actions and petitions to the authorities to voice their grievances. That was in 2008.
However in 2005 when Club Nuansa was being wound up, TKL was not as energetic in helping the policy-holders recover their funds based on the “guarantees” given by Income and ATD.
Instead, he then, as well as now, shifts the blame elsewhere – the Income board of directors. This is a recurring bad habit which I will be talking about in subsequent articles.
Stay tuned
