In the MIPFM 2018 conference, MIPFM president Sarkunan Subramaniam, in his last term as the president gave a passionate speech regarding corruption and advises property managers to walk away from being accomplice to law breakers or fraudulent practice.

He said this, “I am extremely disappointed when I read reports in the paper that some property manager or even developer does not know, does not have a clue or does not want to know the Strata Management Act.”

“All the surplus money they collected in maintenance charges are put in the one tower that they own.”, he said.

He added, “Developer chose to ignore the issue, and that he had the property manager to ignore the issue.”

On another case,  he said, “There was another developer who refused to call for an AGM, of course assisted by a property manager, to form JMB because he wanted to keep control of the development and manipulate the money that was collected. And the purchasers then, with the COB forced the developer to call for an AGM, after many attempts the JMB was formed. Then the nightmare starts. The accounts was in the mess. The developer, its subsidiaries, its friends were not paying maintenance charges from the day it was built but instead taking other peoples’ money but using it for the rest of the development.”

He then called on property managers to not engage in fraudulent practice, he said,  “This property manager who helped the developer, shouldnt he also be held accountable (Apart from the developer) ? There is no excuse for property managers, if you feel the developer, JMB, MC is not following the law, walk away. Do not be a party or accomplice to law breakers or fraudulent practice, there is more money to be made elsewhere!”