Singapore — Three days into a High Court Trial, plastic surgeon Dr Marco Aurelio Moura De Faria Correa issued a statement saying he was dropping a lawsuit against Mr Lawrence Wee, the son of the late former chief justice Wee Chong Jin.
The doctor, who hails from Brazil and is a Permanent Resident in Singapore, had attempted to recover a share of the profits from a sale of the property at Anson Road.
Dr Correa said in a statement that he had “come to realise there is no basis to” his claim, and that he had made “unjustified allegations” against Mr Wee, a lawyer with over three decades of experience in conveyancing, banking and corporate finance. The Straits Times has seen a copy of the statement, which the plastic surgeon issued on Jul 9.
The trial over proceeds from the sale of a property at Hub Synergy Point in Anson Road had begun last Tuesday, Jul 6.
Dr Correa has a clinic at Mount Elizabeth Novena Specialist Centre, while Mr Wee is a director of law firm Quahe Woo & Palmer.
According to the plastic surgeon, Mr Wee and Mr Sukamto Sia, a businessman, had not paid him $1.08 million, which was allegedly his share from the sale of eight units on the 27th floor as well as all of the 28th floor of Hub Synergy Point.
Since Mr Sia had previously been declared bankrupt, Dr Correa was suing Mr Wee for his “contribution and agreed share of profits.”
Mr Sia had planned on buying the strata unit at Hub Synergy Point, in Jul 2013 for $17.3 million, in a deal that was first handled by Mr Wee.
When Mr Sia could no longer continue with the deal because of money problems, Mr Wee took over as the buyer.
In 2014, Mr Wee sold the strata unit for $20 million.
Dr Correa had previously entered into an agreement with Mr Sia, wherein he says he invested $1 million in purchasing the unit and was supposed to get back $400,000 in a “guaranteed return.”
By Sept 1, 2014, the doctor claims to have received only $322,512 from Mr Sia, and resorted to filing a lawsuit in Oct 2019 in the attempt to get back the rest of his investment, after he said he heard nothing more from Mr Sia and Mr Wee.
But Mr Wee claims to have no knowledge of the agreement between Mr Sia and the plastic surgeon. He had purchased the unit using his own funds and saw nothing of the monies from loans Mr Sia had made, he added.
Furthermore, Dr Correa only “made repeated and desperate demands against Sukamto from Sept 1, 2014, to Mar 24, 2016,” and not to him.
According to the lawyers of Mr Wee, Senior Counsel Jimmy Yim and Mr Kevin Lee of Drew & Napier, the doctor and Mr Sia “have aligned themselves to seek a payout from Mr Wee,” as Mr Sia has acted as a waned for Dr Correa in the case.
In his statement, the doctor apologised to Mr Wee, adding he is “grateful that he has agreed to my application for dismissal of the action with payment of a modest sum of costs to him. /TISG
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