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