S'pore property shares tumble after cooling measures
Posted: 14 January 2013 1408 hrs
SINGAPORE: Shares of major property developers in Singapore were battered Monday after the government introduced new measures to cool the real estate market at the weekend.
By midday, shares of top developers listed on the Singapore Exchange had sunk more than four per cent as investors spooked by the measures dumped the stocks.
CapitaLand shed 4.11 per cent to S$3.73, City Developments fell 6.11 per cent to S$11.83 and Keppel Land slumped 6.31 per cent to S$4.01.
"We're seeing a knee-jerk reaction to the cooling measures," said Jason Hughes, head of premium client management for IG Markets Singapore.
The new measures, which came into force Saturday, included sharply higher duties on property purchases by foreigners.
Singaporeans' minimum cash downpayments for second or subsequent homes were raised from 10 to 25 per cent of a property's value.
But Hughes predicted property stocks would be able to ride out the storm thanks to their overseas portfolios.
"We do have to consider that a number of these guys are regionally focused," he said, adding that the effects would have been more severe if they were "purely local developers."
HSBC Global Research said in a report that Singapore may institute more cooling measures because property demand is expected to remain robust.
"Low interest rates and an expected economic recovery this year will support demand. Further steps can, therefore, not be ruled out," the report stated.
The new property measures were imposed after home prices continued to rise even as the city-state suffered an economic slowdown.
Singapore narrowly avoided a technical recession in the last quarter of 2012.
The economy grew just 1.2 per cent in 2012, from 4.9 per cent in 2011, with 2013 expansion forecast at 1.0-3.0 per cent.
- AFP/ck
- wong chee tat :)
Monday, January 14, 2013
Pastor charged with performing oral sex on underage victim
Pastor charged with performing oral sex on underage victim
By Alvina Soh | Posted: 14 January 2013 1515 hrs
SINGAPORE: A 45-year-old pastor has been charged with three counts of sexual offences.
He faces two counts of oral sex and another count under the Children and Young Persons Act.
The pastor allegedly made an underage girl, who's a church member, perform oral sex on him in the church one afternoon in mid-October 2011.
He's also accused of having oral sex again with the girl, who was 15 years old at the time of the alleged offence.
This allegedly happened at a jogging park sometime between September and October 2011.
At the same place, he's also alleged to have exposed himself and used her hand to rub his private parts.
Both of them cannot be named due to a court order to protect the identity of the victim.
- CNA/ck
- wong chee tat :)
By Alvina Soh | Posted: 14 January 2013 1515 hrs
SINGAPORE: A 45-year-old pastor has been charged with three counts of sexual offences.
He faces two counts of oral sex and another count under the Children and Young Persons Act.
The pastor allegedly made an underage girl, who's a church member, perform oral sex on him in the church one afternoon in mid-October 2011.
He's also accused of having oral sex again with the girl, who was 15 years old at the time of the alleged offence.
This allegedly happened at a jogging park sometime between September and October 2011.
At the same place, he's also alleged to have exposed himself and used her hand to rub his private parts.
Both of them cannot be named due to a court order to protect the identity of the victim.
- CNA/ck
- wong chee tat :)
Wardrobe change and the trial begins
Wardrobe change and the trial begins
By:
SHOW time.
From the moment Tey Tsun Hang stepped out of a white car at the Subordinate Courts yesterday morning till the time he left the court in the evening, the drama never stopped.
Stepping out of the car, he took a moment to pose casually for press photographers.
In court, the action continued.
First, his lawyer, Mr Peter Low, requested Tey also be allowed to actively cross-examine witnesses. Tey said that if that was not allowed, he would discharge Mr Low and represent himself.
After a round of discussions, Tey decided to retain Mr Low as his solicitor, who would give him legal advice but not address the court. Tey would conduct his own defence.
Next, he argued on what he called a “minor, inane point” – that unlike the prosecutors, he did not have a screen before him which would allow him to read the live transcript of the proceedings.
The New Paper understands that typically all parties in a trial would decide if they wanted to engage such services and share the costs. The service, provided by an external company, costs several thousand dollars a day.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Jumabhoy said Tey had opted to cancel this service a few days ago.
The 41-year-old law professor, who has since been suspended, then whipped out a copy of the Subordinate Court Practice Direction to argue that he should be given similar access to any such transcripts.
Chief District Judge Tan Siong Thye adjourned the hearing and got all parties into his chambers to settle the administrative matter. Tey eventually got access to the live feeds, at least for yesterday.
Before the trial resumed, Tey left the courtroom. When he returned, he had ditched his grey and white striped suit for a blazer and lawyers’ robes.
The lawyers’ robes are usually used during High Court appearances, rather than at the Subordinate Courts.
Tey then started setting up a mini office in the dock, putting up a wooden easel to prop up legal documents and carrying other bags and files into the dock.
He directed several of his former students to sit behind the defence counsel’s table and they took notes during the hearing.
When court resumed, Tey asked the judge if he could stand at the defence counsel’s table instead as the dock would “pose considerable physical restraints in my current constitution”.
Tey, who has a slight limp, made his way to court using an umbrella as a walking stick.
Mr Jumabhoy objected, arguing that though Tey was representing himself, it did not change his position as the accused and therefore he should remain in the dock.
While this was being discussed, Tey turned to face the public gallery, put both hands on the dock and then casually popped a sweet into his mouth.
When the court officer was reading the charges to Tey, he turned the microphone to the officer and later patted him on his back after all charges were read.
Asked how he wanted to plead, he said theatrically: “If I were standing before the Almighty, I could give but one answer – I am not guilty. So please help me, God.”
Finally, after about two hours, the first witness, Miss Darinne Ko, was called to the stand.
Throughout the trial, Tey paced up and down in the dock, going to one side to confer with his lawyers, rustling through documents and checking what had been said by Miss Ko.
At one point, she said she was very distracted by his movements, but the judge told her to focus on her testimony.
Miss Ko subsequently sat with her hand glued to her forehead, shielding her from seeing Tey.
She turned further away from him later in the day when photographs he took of them after their first sexual encounter were tendered in court by the prosecution.
Tey objected to the 18 photos being submitted as evidence at this stage, until the forensic expert who extracted the photos from his laptop took the stand.
While claiming that he did not want these “compromising” photos to influence the judge’s mind, he held one of them up high and slowly swirled around so that the packed courtroom could see it.
Tey also had several notable sound bites.
At one point, he said he preferred to be referred to as the “defendant”, rather than the “accused”.
At another, he claimed to have been “scrambling like mad” and like a “headless chicken” when given only a few days to read a forensic report linked to the case.
When the prosecutor asked for a short break, Judge Tan said the transcribers also needed a break. Tey chipped in: “So do I, I’d taken too much fluids during lunch.”
Just before the lunch break, Tey asked that all officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau be removed from the court.
The prosecution said only one officer – Miss Ko’s escort – was in court and she was not related to the investigations.
Tey said he saw no reason for her to remain in court then and said: “I can escort the witness as well.”
Mr Jumabhoy retorted: “We thankfully and respectfully decline.”
But Tey had the last word: “I beg your pardon, Your Honour. I should have been more restrained.”
Related story: Darrine Ko says she lost her virginity to Prof Tey
- wong chee tat :)
Woman in sex-for-grades trial says she lost virginity to NUS law professor
Woman in sex-for-grades trial says she lost virginity to NUS law professor
By:
He was her law lecturer who later became a friend. They got closer as she developed feelings for him.
One day in July 2010, they started kissing in his office at the National University of Singapore (NUS). They then had sex on a couch in the office. It was her first time.
Miss Darinne Ko Wen Hui, now 23, was then five days short of her 21st birthday.
Their sexual encounters form the crux of the prosecution's case against NUS law professor Tey Tsun Hang, who faces six charges of obtaining gratification in the form of sex and gifts from Miss Ko. Each corruption charge carries a maximum punishment of a fine of up to $100,000 or a jail term of up to five years, or both.
Outlining the prosecution's case, Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Jumabhoy said that "the cloak of love provides no cover no cover for what was essentially an NUS law professor taking advantage of his student".
Read the full report in The New Paper on Friday (Jan 11).
Tey put on a dramatic show on the first day of his trial yesterday. For details on his court antics, read the report here.
- wong chee tat :)
CPIB officers took law student away for overnight questioning
CPIB officers took law student away for overnight questioning
TNP PHOTO: Benjamin Seetor
The knocks at her door came at 6.30am, three hours after Miss Darinne Ko Wen Hui (above), 23, had gone to bed. One of her parents opened the door for two officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on April 2 last year.
The officers said they needed Miss Ko's assistance on an investigation. One of her parents woke her up. The officers searched her bedroom and took three files of law school notes, her laptop and mobile phone, an iPad, loose papers and an appointment letter.
They then took Miss Ko back to the Bureau for questioning.
Details of Miss Ko's time at the Bureau were heard in court yesterday, at the second day of the trial of law professor Tey Tsun Hang, 41, who is charged with six counts of corruptly obtaining sex and gifts from her.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Jumabhoy yesterday applied to impeach her with respect to eight paragraphs in the CPIB statement recorded that day.
If successful, the move would see the star witness in the sex-for-grades trial declared a hostile witness, meaning one who deviates from prior statements made.
- wong chee tat :)
The knocks at her door came at 6.30am, three hours after Miss Darinne Ko Wen Hui (above), 23, had gone to bed. One of her parents opened the door for two officers from the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on April 2 last year.
The officers said they needed Miss Ko's assistance on an investigation. One of her parents woke her up. The officers searched her bedroom and took three files of law school notes, her laptop and mobile phone, an iPad, loose papers and an appointment letter.
They then took Miss Ko back to the Bureau for questioning.
Details of Miss Ko's time at the Bureau were heard in court yesterday, at the second day of the trial of law professor Tey Tsun Hang, 41, who is charged with six counts of corruptly obtaining sex and gifts from her.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Jumabhoy yesterday applied to impeach her with respect to eight paragraphs in the CPIB statement recorded that day.
If successful, the move would see the star witness in the sex-for-grades trial declared a hostile witness, meaning one who deviates from prior statements made.
- wong chee tat :)
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