Why do we seem to have the knack of picking ‘duds’?
I refer to the article “Sports marketing firm MP & Silva wound up, FAS $25m deal in limbo” (Straits Times, Oct 19).
It states that “Sports marketing agency MP & Silva (MPS) wrote itself into Singapore’s sporting annals in 2015, signing what was the biggest commercial deal in local football history – a six-year, $25 million media rights contract with the Football Association of Singapore (FAS).
But the FAS may not receive the full amount of that deal, after the agency – majority-owned by Chinese companies Everbright and Baofeng – was wound up by the United Kingdom’s High Court of Justice on Wednesday.”
In this connection, according to the article “MDA misjudged foreign talent agency – $27.5 million lost to deceitful Aussie CEO” (The Independent, Jun 11, 2016) – “MDA gave a total of $27.5 million to RGM Entertainment and RGM Group, of which Devesh was the managing director.
In 2012 when MDA was attempting to recover the lost millions from RGM Group, the company attempted to separate itself from RGM Entertainment in the court action. MDA however argued that they shared the same offices and worked together. Both companies are now in liquidation.
If it had done its homework however, it would have discovered that Devesh Chetty was involved in another scandal in 1999 when he was the general manager of Scanbox Asia. Devesh allegedly put together a financing deal with Comerica Bank in the United States that left Scanbox Asia Australia in grave danger of insolvency.”
Why do we arguably, seem to have the knack of picking ‘duds’ so often?
Leong Sze Hian
