File an affidavit to support your claim

Dear Mr. Tan,
MAS statement says that only 600 people filed their complaint. Why so few? There are more than 8,000 people affected. Can you get more people to file their complaint? In Hongkong, more than 6,000 people have filed their complaint already.

REPLY
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority set up a hotline and service center for investors to file their complaint. This is more convenient to the investors. The service center takes down the complaint and make investigation later. This approach is more effective.

The system adopted in Singapore is for the investor to file a complaint with the financial institution that sold the product. Few people file the complaint because they were not clear about how it can be done. Several people who filed the complaint reported that they were badly treated. They were challenged by the officer receiving the complaint. The process is badly handled. Some of their reports are published in this blog.

I suggest that the investors can take the following steps:

1. See a lawyer to write an affidavit. I have arranged with one lawyer willing to do this work for a fee of $120. You can approach another lawyer if you wish, using the template given here:
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2008/10/affidavit-statement-made-under-oath.html

2. Use the affidavit to file your complaint.

3. If the matter is not resolved within three weeks, you can use the affidavit to lodge your complaint with FiDREC (http://www.fidrec.com.sg/)

4. This affidavit can be used if you decide to take collective legal action at a future date.