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SINGAPORE – The estate of the late Dr. Freda Paul, who suffered from dementia and was wrongly influenced by her maid and two foreign workers into giving them $ 5 million, bequeathed $ 6.75 million to her alma mater, the University Singapore National (NUS). the university said in a statement on Tuesday (December 29).
The gift from Dr. Paul, a respected pediatrician at Singapore General Hospital and associate professor of pediatrics at the then University of Singapore School of Medicine, was awarded in 2007.
He took an interest in children with special learning needs and had bequeathed much of his estate to help needy medical students at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.
Professor Tan Eng Chye, President of NUS, said Tuesday: “We are deeply grateful for this generous gift from the late Dr. Freda Paul, which will go a long way toward nurturing the next generation of female medical leaders, as well as advancing in the field of pediatrics.
“I hope this gift will also inspire more NUS alumni to impact society by supporting programs at the university, whether through gifts for life or a bequest, as exemplified by the late Dr. Paul,” he added.
The gift will enable NUS Medicine to establish a scholarship for financially needy undergraduate medical students, an award to be awarded to undergraduate medical students, and a professorship.
After legal action by Dr. Paul’s estate, it was possible to recover the embezzled funds.
Dr. Paul was single and his only asset was a bungalow on Haig Road, which sold in 2009 for $ 15.4 million.
She suffered from dementia and, after her will was written, she befriended the construction worker Kulandaivelu Malayaperumal and the engineer Gopal Subramaniam, who were working at a site adjacent to her home.
Together with his maid, Arulampalam Kanthimathy, they influenced Dr. Paul to transfer large sums of money to them from the proceeds of the sale of their old house and to make a new will in 2010 that would have left almost all of the remaining assets to them. . Some of the proceeds from the sale were used to purchase a smaller house for the elderly doctor.
In 2013, Dr. Paul’s distant relatives, Mr. Philip Jeyaretnam and Dr. Ruhunadevi Joshua, were appointed deputy under the Mental Ability Act to manage their affairs.
Dr. Paul died in August 2016 at the age of 87.
Mr. Jeyaretnam and Dr. Joshua successfully petitioned the court for a legal will reestablishing Dr. Paul’s prior testamentary intentions, including his gift to NUS. They took proceedings on behalf of their estate against the three individuals and obtained a judgment on May 15, 2017. About $ 4 million was later recovered and more funds were obtained from the sale of Dr. Paul’s subsequent home.
Said Mr. Jeyaretnam: “I am delighted that Dr. Paul’s life and career are now being honored with this important legacy to NUS Medicine, as she had wanted.”
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