Chief Executive Officer of SIAS is David Gerald, 67, who was born in Malaysia, grew up in Sri Lanka, moved to Singapore when he was 13 and became a Singapore citizen in 1972. Prior to SIAS, DG served as a Magistrate, Coroner and Deputy Public Prosecutor, and in private practice as an Advocate Solicitor.

1999 - DG is reported as not thinking twice about leaving a lucrative career as a lawyer to champion the rights of Singaporean investors, whose shares had been frozen by the Malaysian government. This led to the founding of SIAS. Bloomberg Business Week described him as “Chief Executive Officer, President, Director, Chairman of Dispute Resolution Committee, Chairman of Investor Education Advisory Committee and Co-Chairman of Corporate Governance Committee”.

1999 - SIAS commenced with a 66,000 membership.

2003 – 37 people attend the Annual General Meeting. The AGM approves a new ‘Founder Member’ where people who joined in 1999/2000 are still called Members but they don’t have to pay any annual subscriptions. 49,887 people come into this category.

2004 - Subscriptions for the year are $8,779. Income from sponsors, many of which are companies that SIAS monitors on behalf of its paying members, is $340,000. SIAS receives a grant of $75,358 from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

DG is accused of “Playing to the Gallery” in an EGM where he opposed the resolutions put forward by the Directors. Feeling that he had been defamed he became the Appellant in Jeyasegaram David (alias David Gerald Jeyasegaram) v Ban Song Long David [2004] SGHC 225. Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled that there was no defamation and the case was lost.

2006 – Subscriptions for year are $14,005. Sponsors income is $428,161. The Annual General Meeting has to be delayed for 30 minutes because there are not enough people present to form a quorum.

2007 – Subscriptions for year are $11,192. Sponsors income is $415,506.

2008 – Subscriptions for the year are $9,216. Sponsors income is $405,497. In an article in December 2008, The Straits Times quotes DG saying “I gave up a lucrative private practice in 1986….”. This is the second time reports have said he gave up a lucrative career.

The article further quotes: “His income from SIAS for 2008 was a modest $10,800. He confesses that his weakness is motor cars and cites that he has lost money on cars. The silver Lexus 300 that he is currently driving will probably be his last luxury car. His long term plans are to settle in Australia.”

Note: Current price of a Lexus 300 is between $235,000 - $247,000 according to www.sgcarmart.com

Note: In financial year ended 30 June 2008, SIAS spent $399,120 on salaries and expenses. In financial year ended 30 June 2009, SIAS spent $451,401 on salaries and expenses.

2009 – Subscriptions for the year $13,155. Sponsors income is $480,451.

2010 – Subscriptions for the year ar $45,240. Sponsors income is $471,976. At the AGM DG highlights that the number of free members surpasses paying members. Annual Dinner expenditure is recorded as $241,815.

Prior to April 2011, PP had never heard of SIAS and had no contact of any sort with DG.

April 2011

SIAS announce that it will take up the plight of PP clients – providing they become SIAS members first. DG invites PP clients, providing they become SIAS members first, to a dialogue session on 28^th April. DG says, despite having never communicated with PP himself, that the situation looks very bad, complex and sensitive. Clients are encouraged to start a legal fund but DG doesn’t tell them how much it will cost them (in a later video he says it will initially be between $1m - $2m).

May 2011

At a press conference DG calls on PP to communicate with clients, despite having never communicated with PP himself. 

PP issues a Press Statement confirming that they have never received any communication from DG or SIAS.

June 2011

DG posts a 12 minute video on Youtube which is highly defamatory of PP. 

DG then asks to meet PP.  His retrospective invitation is declined.

DG then asks to meet PP “behind closed doors”. PP declines but does ask for the names of the PP clients he purports to represent. There is no response.

July 2011

PP demands that the YouTube broadcast is immediately taken down and that an apology is made to the company forthwith. The video is removed immediately. No apology is given. PP asks for an apology again.

August 2011

SIAS write to PP clients who are SIAS members, stating that SIAS is not in a position to provide legal advice as it is only an Association. The letter says SIAS has spoken to many law firms but many say they are not interested. The letter says SIAS have eventually spoken to 3 law firms and found one particular law firm, Stephenson Harwood, to be the most reasonable in terms of legal fees.

The letter says Stephenson Harwood will conduct a search fee per plot of £180 and £8 for Land Registry Fees. 2^nd and subsequent plots will be charged at £120 and £8 for Land Registry search fees. The letter goes on to say that if Stephenson Harwood register plots additional charges will be £180 + (£50 - £920) for the Land Registry per plot.

Note: UK Land Registry searches can be made online, cost is £4 and takes on average less than 5 minutes to complete. PP told clients about this when they purchased. Charging £188 for a £4 search is a mark-up of 4,700%.

PP has conducted 10,000+ transactions on land. If Stephenson Harwood did a search for every transaction they would be charging PP clients in the region of £15,000,000. If they then registered every plot they would be charging somewhere in the region of  another £15,000,000.

The letter then states that SIAS cannot agree or negotiate any fees on clients behalf or act as intermediary as SIAS is not the client and their constitution does not all them that role.

September 2011

SIAS Annual Report - SIAS confirm that they assisted PP clients with legal advice, directly contradicting the earlier statement that their Constitution does not allow them that role.

SIAS Annual Report - SIAS state they will concentrate on membership growth by working with more listed companies to admit their shareholders as SIAS Associate members.

SIAS Annual Report - SIAS now make $201,000 per year introducing their corporate sponsors to retail investors up from $150,494 the previous year. The increase is attributed to the growing number of companies who sign up for the program.

SIAS Annual Report - SIAS reports a 50% increase in paying members. Subscriptions are now $67,523 for the year. Income from sponsors has risen to $740,130. Annual Dinner expenditure is recorded as $225,536.

PP asks for an apology again. PP also asks where SIAS obtained confidential client information from. SIAS responds that the demand for an apology is baseless.

October 2011

PP write to DG reiterating that the information that he has in respect of the companies clients is confidential and that he has been using it to solicit membership of his organization.  DG is requested to desist from using it further, explain where he got it from, confirm it is destroyed and will not be used again.

The Singapore Business Times reports : “Most of the 70,000 SIAS members who had signed up so that SIAS would settle the Clob matter on their behalf have since abandoned the organization, leaving SIAS with less than 100 active members now.”

DG tells his Members the report is erroneous and Membership is very much intact at about 70,000 and that SIAS have sought correction by Business Times immediately.

DG does NOT tell his Members that almost 50,000 SIAS Members are ‘Founder Members’ and haven’t paid any subscription for almost 10 years. He does NOT tell his Members that the vast majority of the other Members are shareholders of Sponsor Companies who are entitled to a free Associate Membership as part of the sponsorship.

November 2011

SIAS accuse PP of intimidation, stating that client information is not confidential.

Note: SIAS records the following information for THEIR members when they join:

●        IC Number

●        Date of Birth

●        Gender

●        Occupation

●        Annual Income

●        Education Level

●        Address & Post Code

●        Email Address

●        Home Phone

●        Office Phone

●        Mobile Number

●        Fax Number

●        Whether you trade

●        Who your broker is

●        How often you trade

●        If you trade online

●        What instruments you invest in

●        The size of your stock & shares portfolio.

According to SIAS none of this information is confidential which would appear to be borne out by the fact that when a Member joins SIAS there is no statement that information will be kept confidential.

PP asks for an apology again and confirmation that SIAS will stop using PP clients as part of a recruitment campaign.

November 2011

DG announces to the press that SIAS have received legal letters from PP considering defamation action against them, adding that PP took issue with comments he made on a web cast. He didn’t mention that when challenged by PP, he immediately took his webcast down, so far had failed to apologize; and was using confidential client information as part of a recruitment drive.

December 2011

DG conducts a dialog session with PP clients. Less than 100 turn up. SIAS report that they have contacted lawyers but many are not interested. Most have quoted $40k - $60k to review contracts and provide legal opinion. This cost must be borne by PP clients.

DG then takes PP clients through the Land Registration process in the UK and encourages everyone to register their title.

DG does not tell those present that the UK Land Registration Process requires forms to be completed by both buyer and seller (PP) and therefore no registration will be possible without the agreement and co-operation of PP.