Leong Wai Nam, who stole over $93,000 of clients' money, had his jail sentence increased from 3 years, 8 months to 6 1/2 years on appeal to the High Court. Justice Tay Yong Kwang agreed that a stiff sentence was needed to stop the increasing number of dishonest lawyers stealing clients' money.
Leong had pocketed the monies instead of banking them with various other law firms with whom he had revenue sharing arrangements. In addition, he had deceived a businessman by pretending that he could act for the latter even though Leong had no practising certificate.
Showing posts with label lawyers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lawyers. Show all posts
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Allegations of fraud against lawyer
Allegations of fraud have been made against a lawyer involving over $800,000. He has been sued for this sum in the High Court. For more details, please see refer to my blog on professiona negligence -
http://professionalnegligencesg.blogspot.com/
http://professionalnegligencesg.blogspot.com/
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Top 3 crooked lawyers
In terms of monies stolen, these 3 lawyers are tops in Singapore -
1. David Rasif who fled in June 2006 with over $11 million, $10.7 million of which was placed by an American couple with him for a purchase of a house. He appears to be the first lawyer to abscond based solely on greed; the previous lawyers who fled with client's monies appeared to be under great financial pressure. This is not to excuse any of them but merely to look at the psychological factors behind fraud.
2. Tan Cheng Yew, a well-known debater, fled in 2003 with over $5 million of trust funds entrusted to him in relation to the building of a church. Recent reports in September 2009 state that he has been arrested in Germany.
3. Zulkiffli Amin, a partner of lawyer firm Sadique Marican & ZM Amin, fled Singapore in November 2007 with over $6 million of clients' monies.
The victims of these dishonest lawyers are -
a) the clients who lost the money;
b) often the partners in the law firm of dishonest partner who end up having to bear the loss if the loss is considered to be a partnership debt under the Partnership Act;
c) the Law Society's Compensation Fund, and
d) public trust in lawyers.
1. David Rasif who fled in June 2006 with over $11 million, $10.7 million of which was placed by an American couple with him for a purchase of a house. He appears to be the first lawyer to abscond based solely on greed; the previous lawyers who fled with client's monies appeared to be under great financial pressure. This is not to excuse any of them but merely to look at the psychological factors behind fraud.
2. Tan Cheng Yew, a well-known debater, fled in 2003 with over $5 million of trust funds entrusted to him in relation to the building of a church. Recent reports in September 2009 state that he has been arrested in Germany.
3. Zulkiffli Amin, a partner of lawyer firm Sadique Marican & ZM Amin, fled Singapore in November 2007 with over $6 million of clients' monies.
The victims of these dishonest lawyers are -
a) the clients who lost the money;
b) often the partners in the law firm of dishonest partner who end up having to bear the loss if the loss is considered to be a partnership debt under the Partnership Act;
c) the Law Society's Compensation Fund, and
d) public trust in lawyers.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Lawyer's fraud, partners' sorrow
Zulkifli Amin was a law firm partner who disappeared in November 2007 allegedly with more than $6 million of clients' monies missing. Often, law firms hold on to clients' monies pending payment to sellers and developers of property. For one transaction, the monies held by a law firm may be from ten thousand dollars to millions of dollars.
Unfortunately for Sadique Marican and Anand Kumar, they were partners in the same law firm as Zulkifli Amin. All partners are fully liable for partnersip debts. What are partnership debts? Debts incurred in the course of partnership business will fall into this category. It looks like monies taken by Zulkfli Amin as law firm partner will probably be found by the courts to be partnership debts.
A recent report stated that the 2 partners of Zulkfli Amin will have to pay about $380,000 taken by the latter as the monies were paid by our client to the law firm in the course of a property transaction.
It is understood that many law firms are now converting to Law Corporations or Limited Liability Partnerships because of risk of fraud by law partners. When these 2 types of vehicle are used, it is much more difficult to hold the other partners or directors (in the case of a Law Corporation) personally liable for any fraud of one partner.
Unfortunately for Sadique Marican and Anand Kumar, they were partners in the same law firm as Zulkifli Amin. All partners are fully liable for partnersip debts. What are partnership debts? Debts incurred in the course of partnership business will fall into this category. It looks like monies taken by Zulkfli Amin as law firm partner will probably be found by the courts to be partnership debts.
A recent report stated that the 2 partners of Zulkfli Amin will have to pay about $380,000 taken by the latter as the monies were paid by our client to the law firm in the course of a property transaction.
It is understood that many law firms are now converting to Law Corporations or Limited Liability Partnerships because of risk of fraud by law partners. When these 2 types of vehicle are used, it is much more difficult to hold the other partners or directors (in the case of a Law Corporation) personally liable for any fraud of one partner.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Lawyers and clients monies
Lawyers are often entrusted with large sums of their clients' monies which may be held by the lawyers for later use, eg, pending completion of a major business deal or a payment deadline under a property transaction.
The law has strict rules on dealing with these sums held by the lawyers. They are required to bank the monies into a special account called the Client Account. This is a separate account from the law firm's own bank account which is called the Office Account. The Office Account is used to pay for expenses of the firm such as salaries, rent, etc. Since it is the lawyers' own monies, they are free to agree on how to use it.
On the other hand, the Client Account is a trust account. Monies there are only to be used according to the client's instructions. Monies of one client also cannot be used for another client's purposes. If the money is misused by the lawyers, the criminal offence of criminal breach of trust will be committed with jail sentences being almost always being the punishment. If the lawyer is honest, then even if he becomes bankrupt, the monies will be safe in the Client Account, and cannot be taken by the lawyer's personal creditors.
The law has strict rules on dealing with these sums held by the lawyers. They are required to bank the monies into a special account called the Client Account. This is a separate account from the law firm's own bank account which is called the Office Account. The Office Account is used to pay for expenses of the firm such as salaries, rent, etc. Since it is the lawyers' own monies, they are free to agree on how to use it.
On the other hand, the Client Account is a trust account. Monies there are only to be used according to the client's instructions. Monies of one client also cannot be used for another client's purposes. If the money is misused by the lawyers, the criminal offence of criminal breach of trust will be committed with jail sentences being almost always being the punishment. If the lawyer is honest, then even if he becomes bankrupt, the monies will be safe in the Client Account, and cannot be taken by the lawyer's personal creditors.
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