KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — The Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents urged members of the public to always exercise caution when dealing with realty agents, conceding that existing safeguards and regulations cannot fully protect them from fraud.
Tan Kian Aun, the group president, said the case of a plot to defraud the Puthucheary family involved an accredited property agent, Thevan Ragavan of Thevan Realty, who could have duped an unsuspecting client with his credentials.
Complaints of cheating involving property agents are not unusual, but Tan said the MIEA only rarely encountered cases as elaborate and severe as the one involving Thevandran.
Thevandran’s was a case that entailed a legitimate agent exploiting his position to cheat a client by drafting up a fraudulent contract, which the MIEA president suggested could only be prevented only if the client vetted the document thoroughly.
“We do get what we call contractual complaints, but they’re usually about things like disputes about practices... in cases like (Thevandran’s) I think it’s important for clients to do due diligence,” he said in a brief interview with the Malay Mail.
Thevandran is not a member of the MIEA, the largest interest group representing the property agents, but is an accredited member of the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents & Property Managers (LPPEH), the statutory body that regulates the sector.
Malay Mail could not reach the LPPEH for comment.
A judge in the High Court here in January ruled in favour of the defendants in a case she described as “obviously a fraudulent and sham claim by fraudulent personas” to force the sale of property for RM40 million instead of the offer price of RM60 million.
The defendants, Firwas Sdn Bhd, is a family business incorporated by the late James Puthucheary and his brothers in 1983. James was a former lawyer and a founding member of the People’s Action Party (PAP) in Singapore. He was banned from Singapore in the 1960s, and subsequently, practised law in Malaysia.
In her judgment dated January 22, Judge Datuk Azimah Omar repeatedly called Thevandran, the principal of well-known KL real estate agents Thevan Realty, a fraudster, using the term “Fraudulent Thevan” throughout her written judgment.
She also singled out Maragatham Karuppiah, a woman who pretended to be a lawyer and was named in the judgment as “Fraudulent Usha” in an attempt to force the sale at a lower price of a piece of land in Johor belonging to the prominent Puthucheary family.
Tan said both the MIEA and LPPEH can take disciplinary actions against members guilty of fraud. LPPEH-accredited members can easily be traced since they would have had to register their personal details.
“In MIEA, if we probe and find our members committing cheating or fraud we would strip them off their membership but we recommend anyone who has been cheated or defrauded to lodge a police report. Members of the LPPEH especially can be traced, that means it’ll be easier for the board to help,” the MIEA president said.
The LPPEH outlines a general code of conduct for its registered members. Among them, agents are sworn “to protect the public against fraud, misrepresentation and unethical practices in respect to all real estate transactions.”
But Tan, a former member of LPPEH, said there will always be some unscrupulous agents who violate the code of conduct, although he alleged cases involving attempts to defraud clients for their money are still rare.
“The LPPEH deals with about 30 complaints a month but it’s mostly issues like agents engaging in false advertising or misrepresenting facts about properties. The point is the LPPEH still acts on all the complaints,” he said.
