Lawsuits have been filed against the first and second wives as well as the sister-in-law of Mr Spencer Tuppani, who was stabbed to death by his father-in-law in 2017.
Two of Mr Tuppani’s friends are now claiming to each own a one-third share in a Holland Village property worth $4.6 million. The Straits Times says that the two men claim they had given the amount of $535,200 in cash for the property to Mr Tuppani, who alone is listed as its registered owner, adding that he had held the shares in trust for them.
The claimants are Mr Jason Er Kok Yong, 42, and Mr Lawrence Lim Soon Hwa, 46. A lawsuit over a $566,000 BMW M6 purchased in 2014 under Mr Tuppani’s name has also been filed by Mr Er.
According to the lawyer of the Messrs Er and Lim, Mr Oommen Matthew, Mr Tuppani has suggested in 2016 that they invest in the disputed property.
The three of them were to contribute equal amounts to buying the property and then share in profits and losses. And although it would be listed under Mr Tuppani’s name only, it would be beneficially owned by the three of them in equal shares.
Lawyers for Mr Tuppani had already prepared a trust deed stating that he held a two-thirds share in the property on trust for the two other men, but only Mr Lim had signed it by the time Mr Lim was killed.
Documentary evidence is evidence of their claim, say the two men.
The BMW had been held in trust by Mr Tuppani for Mr Er based on an oral agreement between them. He had already paid $273,000 in cash for the vehicle, as well as its insurance and road tax bills for several years.
However, the defendants claim that the payments Mr Er made had only been for the use of the car, and have even filed a counter-claimed against Mr Er due to the amount of $1.1 million that Mr Tuppani had paid him from August 2014 to May 2017.
Mr Tuppani’s wife, Ms Shyller Tan Cheng Cheng, her sister, Ms Tan San San, and his first wife, Ms Keh Lay Hong, also deny the claims of Messrs Er and Lim.
The women say that the property and vehicle were owned only by Mr Tuppani, who was killed by then 69-year-old Tan Nam Seng, the father of Ms Shyller and Ms Tan, at Boon Tat Street on July 10, 2017.
Tan, now 74, was given an 8 and a half year jail sentence for the fatal stabbing. /TISG
Mother of man killed by father-in-law asks for monthly rent and $500,000 in damages