Migrants claiming they were fleeced of their hard-earned money by a now-defunct property development company held a protest demonstration outside the Blacktown Council on Wednesday and demanded the resignation of Indian-origin councillor of the Labor Party, Moninder Singh who has vehemently rejected claims of any wrongdoing. Dr Singh was who was one of six directors of the company.
“I reject absolutely the false claims that I was dishonest in any dealings business or otherwise,” councillor Dr Moninder Singh said.
In September last year, the District Court held that 53-year-old Councillor Singh and five other directors of New Ridge Property Group Pty Ltd had defaulted on repayments to a Sydney couple that invested $300,000 in New Ridge in 2006.
According to the agreement signed between the couple-Ignacio and Leticia De Castro and the company, the lenders were to receive interest on the sum at the rate of 12 per cent per annum.
The couple alleged they received $70,000 in repayments from the company and no money was paid to them after August 2011.
Cr Singh and other directors appealed against the District Court’s order in the NSW Supreme Court which was dismissed with cost on 22 September this year.
The Supreme Court of NSW upheld the previous decision handed down by the District Court directing the borrowers, including Dr Singh, to return "the sum of $230,000.00 plus interest of $128,330.68 calculated up to 21 June 2016 (the first day of the hearing) and thereafter at the rate of $75.62 per day."
An Indian migrant in Sydney, Baljinder Singh organised the protest demonstration on Wednesday. He said Dr. Singh should return money to those who have been left out of pocket.
“He is a councillor, a Justice of Peace and he represents our community. The least he should do is to pay back those his company borrowed money from,” Mr Singh said.
But the Blacktown councillor rejected the criticisms against him saying they are politically motivated and said he would sue anyone levelling false allegations against him for defamation.
“I am not prepared to let the false and malicious lies to remain,” said Dr Singh.
Dr Singh has also sent a legal notice to Baljinder Singh for allegedly defaming him.
He said New Ridge Property Group Pty Ltd was wound up due to delays in construction and “other market forces” out of his control.
“I lost a significant amount of my own time and money in the company,” he said.
He said because his company offered high returns, a lot of people provided ordinary loans, some even before signing the loan documents.
“High returns have risk and unfortunately the risk of these loans were realized. I am sorry that the venture did not succeed but it’s not the first nor the last property venture to fail,” Dr Singh told SBS Punjabi.
Dr Singh states that he did not provide a personal guarantee for the loans.
