Page 265 - A Banker Down the Rabbit Hole

I met our Singapore lawyer. He used to press the stop watch, the moment
he started talking to me every time about this case while reading our
file. In Singapore, the lawyers charge by the hours spent on the case. He
told that he would have to engage his counterpart in Johannesburg who
would serve a legal notice first and file suit later if amount was not repaid
even after service of legal notice. I left the file there.

A legal notice was served to the buyer to repay USD 80,000 in two weeks
with interest @ 12% p.a. prevailing in South Africa. It was a pleasant
surprise for my boss to hear from our Singapore advocate after a couple
of weeks that the buyer had given a proposal to repay the entire amount
of USD 80,000 in 10 equal monthly installments with 8% interest p.a.

I suggested my boss to accept it provided he gives this proposal in writing
through our Singapore advocate with a clause that if any installment is
not paid on time, we would have recourse in court of law to recover the
balance. We could save hugely on the court expenses too. I had expected
he would pay up just to save his honour and self-respect in the lawyers'
community and the society. We communicated our consent and our
lawyer got a signed agreement from the buyer.

We got the amount as per schedule every month with interest agreed.
We spent legal charges around USD 3000 for this recovery. My boss was
happy with my judgment about this buyer and possibility of recovery, and
actual recovery of full amount happening with interest within just one
year.

The local Singapore buyer refused to pay
Good work brings more work! Subsequently, my boss happily entrusted
me with one more file of a buyer in Singapore in the same building who
was not paying the value of goods bought for about SGD 45,000 for over
a year by then. I was quick in telling him, "We could sue him as he had
signed an invoice of goods as evidence of receipt of goods. We could file

262 | A Banker down the Rabbit Hole