MORE PICS & Video – “Millionaire” Lawyers Disappeared with Client’s AC Money Living Locally-Overseas; Exposed them – ONE Caught in Marang Resort

Can we trust Professional Bodies to Police themselves? Where do they have the time to do it?

Until the police exposed and publicized these errant lawyers, the Bar Council has been mum about them. It is understandable - as professional bodies they would not like to wash their dirty linen in the public. They are NOT taking any action once they are disbarred. The public has a right to know who these white collar crooks are. They cannot be allowed to use their ill gotten gains and start other businesses and living and hiding in style somewhere. Police believe these lawyers were still in the country after conducting checks with the Immigration Department.

Now the Bar Council President S Ambiga has assured that they are not hiding anything and acknowledge these black sheeps. She mentioned the numbers that have been disbarred right up to May this year. The Bar Council can do much more by providing further up to date pictures of these “crooks” that put the legal professions to disrepute. We can expose and hunt them (wherever they may be hiding locally or overseas) and immortalized them on the net and put them to shame for all their children to see. And the Star has reported a tip off lead to one of them being detained (see below). More of them should be brought to book if there is sufficient publicity given to these faceless people. These ex-lawyers ended up misusing the money in their clients’ accounts. The amount varies from hundreds of thousands of ringgit to millions.
The Bar Council president lamented the fact that none of them has approached them? Why should they? These smart alecs know the legal loopholes and find the easy way to dip their hands into the millions and absconded. It would be interesting if the details of each case can be detailed for all to read. Her only assurance is that the affected parties can claim back some compensation from the contribution of RM100 extracted from each member annually. This is a paltry sum in comparison to money taken away in all criminal breach of trust cases.
Formca is also asking the white collar crooks in other professions be exposed. Look at the engineers & the consultants. They are NOT committing CBTs as such but under legally binding contracts and concessions, they are siphoning away Not the clients’money but the RAKYAT one. And these lawyers are only pocketing that fistful of millions. All of them know the laws and how to get around them

Publicity is what they don not want and with the advent of the Internet, they can really be put to shame under whatever identities they might have assumed under hiding
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Tuesday May 29, 2007

Wanted lawyer worked in factory for RM300

KUALA TERENGGANU: A lawyer on the police wanted listed has been arrested at a resort in Marang near here. A tip-off led police to the 40-year-old, who has been living at the resort for the last two years with his wife and worked at a factory here for RM300 a month. State deputy police chief Senior Asst Comm II Mohamad Fuad Talib said the lawyer was wanted to help facilitate investigations in a criminal breach of trust case. The man is the first to be caught among the 25 lawyers being sought by police to help in 249 criminal breach of trust cases reported since 1995. SAC Mohamad Fuad said the man would be remanded for eight days under Section 409 of the Penal Code.
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Tuesday May 29, 2007
Accounts of errant legal firms can be frozen
By RASHITHA A. HAMID

KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council will freeze the accounts of lawyers found to be involved in criminal breach of trust (CBT). Its president S. Ambiga said the council would intervene and take over the practice of a firm if there was any evidence of dishonesty. She said an intervention secretariat had been set up for that purpose. “We will hand it over to the disciplinary board so that cases involving errant lawyers can be dealt with swiftly,” she said during a press conference yesterday. She also said that the police move to start investigations would be a step for the council to curb dishonesty in the profession.
”We are not going to hide anything under the carpet and we will provide any details required by police,” she said. To regulate the lawyers, the council has a system where the accounts of legal firms are audited before their annual certificates of practice can be renewed. If any law firm is found to be involved in a CBT case, the disciplinary board will issue it a suspension order. On complaints about a law firm received from the public, Ambiga said the council would demand an explanation.
“If the law firm does not give any explanation in seven days and show where the money is, we will intervene and take over the firm,” she said, adding that action could be taken against a law firm within two months of the complaint being made. Police said they have unearthed cases of another 30 lawyers involved in CBT and their names would be released soon.

= = == = == = = == = Watch the Video Clip (1 m 11 s , speeded up 15% saves 10 s, orginal 1m 21 s) – the BAR COUNCIL PRESIDENT S. Ambiga Assures Public

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May 28, 2007 20:46 PM

Go After Other Professionals Too, Says Fomca

KOTA KINABALU, May 28 (Bernama) -- Fomca adviser Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Hamdan Adnan commended the police for exposing crooked lawyers but also wants them to go after other errant professionals as well. He said the police should also unearth the wrongdoings of engineers, architects, doctors and accountants. "This will help the public because the black sheep in these professions can also be weeded out," he told Bernama today. He was commenting on the police's exposure of 25 lawyers alleged to have committed Criminal Breach of Trust and their plan to name 20 more suspected of the same offence.

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May 28, 2007 21:00 PM

Lawyers Wanted By Police Have Not Contacted Bar Council

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 (Bernama) -- None of the 25 lawyers being pursued by police for alleged criminal breach of trust involving tens of millions of ringgit has contacted the Bar Council for advice or information. Council president S. Ambiga (ABOVE) said since the announcement was made by police on Saturday, none of them had contacted the council which found that most of the lawyers named by the police were not in the country. "Of the 25 lawyers, there is only one who is still practising, and some of them may have absconded overseas," she said at a press conference at the council's office here today. Ambiga, who was responding to media queries on the issue of the 25 lawyers, said after the police announcement, the Bar Council went to the said legal firms and found that most of the firms were closed.

However, she said, the council could not comment too much on the issue since the police were still investigating the cases and "they are not guilty until their cases have been heard in court". Ambiga who welcomed the move taken by the police, said it helped to step up efforts to curb dishonesty within the legal fraternity. "From 1981 until now, 233 lawyers in the country have been struck off the roll after they were found guilty of serious offences such as criminal breach of trust under the Legal Profession Act 1976," she said. "According to the Act, lawyers who have been struck off the roll will be prohibited from practising but they have a choice to file an appeal to the court. "Besides that, their certificate of legal profession will also be suspended by the Bar Council's Disciplinary Board," she added.
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May 27, 2007 19:28 PM

Bar Council Views Seriously Case Of Lawyers On Police Wanted List

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 (Bernama) -- Bar Council Vice-President Ragunath Kesavan (ABOVE, Right) said no action can be taken against the errant lawyers on a police wanted list for alleged criminal breach of trust as they have been struck off the roll of legal practitioners, had quit the profession or did not renew their practising certificates. He said the Bar Council viewed the matter seriously and was co-operating with the police in their investigation into the matter. Ragunath, however, said only a small percentage of lawyers was involved in misusing the money in their client's account and that there were strict rules and laws to govern the practice of practising lawyers in relation to the handling of their client's account.

He said the Bar Council was the only professional body in the country that had a compensation fund where it was compulsory for any member of the Bar to pay a fee of RM100 yearly into the fund and members of the public who suffered losses due to the dishonesty of lawyers could file a claim to be compensated by the fund. Ragunath said that on the other hand, lawyers were also covered by a compulsory comprehensive indemnity insurance.

Ragunath was asked about a newspaper report quoting Federal Commercial Crime Director Datuk Ramli Yusuff as saying that more than 100 lawyers were on the police wanted list for investigations into criminal breach of trust involving tens of millions of ringgit. The police had also released the photographs and last known addresses of 25 people whose assistance was being sought. Chairman of the Criminal Practice Committee of the Kuala Lumpur Bar, N. Sivanathan, said most of the lawyers listed had already been disbarred and that only a small percentage of lawyers was involved in such crimes. "There are rotten apples in every organisation. It is a very small number compared to the 12,000 members of the Bar," he said. He said complaints have been forwarded to the Bar Council and many of them have been struck off from the roll as advocates and solicitors.
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2007/05/27
Bar Council to help police

KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council was approached by police last week as investigations intensified to bring in the errant lawyers. Council president Ambiga Sreenavasan confirmed that they have been approached by police and has assured them of full co-operation. "These are for cases of cheating or dishonesty which we view seriously." "The police can be assured that we will assist them in tracing the lawyers."
She said lawyers who are found guilty can be struck off the roll of legal practitioners.
Ambiga added that it was possible police were acting on reports which they received from the public, adding there were also cases of impersonation and practising without a certificate.
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2007/05/27

MISSING LAWYERS IN CBT CASES: More than 100 lawyers in alleged CBT cases

By : Audrey Dermawan, NST
GEORGE TOWN: More than 100 lawyers are on police’s wanted list for investigations into criminal breach of trust (CBT) cases involving tens of millions of ringgit. The cases were reported as far back as 1995, with 32 being solved to date. This year alone, 50 reports were lodged against lawyers nationwide. Most of these lawyers are no longer practising. In describing the situation as "alarming", Federal Commercial Crime director Datuk Ramli Yusuff said police would seek the help of the Bar Council to track down these lawyers. "The majority of these cases involve lawyers who represented clients in sale and purchase transactions," Ramli said. "Somehow or other, the ex-lawyers ended up misusing the money in their clients’ accounts.

The amount varies from hundreds of thousands of ringgit to millions."Ramli was here to attend a meeting with all state commercial crime chiefs. He said there was a case of a Kedah-based lawyer who was being sought in connection with seven or eight CBT cases involving millions of ringgit. He, however, refused to divulge further details, saying investigations were still going on. The victims, he said, were professionals, individuals and even companies.
Ramli said most of the cases were reported late, about two to three years after the alleged crime, with some cases going as far as 10 years back. "Due to this, we have difficulty in tracing them," he said. Ramli added that police believe these lawyers were still in the country after conducting checks with the Immigration Department. Meanwhile, police have released the photographs and last known addresses of 25 people whose assistance is being sought.
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Police are looking for 25 lawyers nationwide to help in the investigation.
They are Noor Hadi Sallehon, Kushairi Abdul Karim, Arafat Shahar, Kaw Chee Kang and Andrew Lee Cheng Hoe (Kuala Lumpur),
Raja Rohana Raja Mamat, Kua Tian Chye, Imran Hardy Mohamad Zaini, Manoharan Doraisamy and Morlailabt Ahmad (Selangor),
Murugadas Ganesan, Jochim Louis P. Eastus Louis, Susan Olbery, Rosli A. Rahman, Mohd Hamdi Adb Hamid, Mohd Amin Hasbollah, Tan Kok Kwang and Md Madzhar Mohd Sapuan (Johor),
Ramanathan Veerasamy and Maideen Mohamad (Perak), Leong Sing Cheong (Penang),
Koay Kheh Seong and Sheikh Anuar Sheikh Daud (Kedah),
Pok Yonh Chan (Malacca)
and Loh Yin Fah (Pahang).

DCP Ramli urged those who with information to contact the nearest

= = = =and do you see a single photo of these lawyers? The police have the printed copies but the media has no space & time to publish them (who would pay for the column-cm). They should provide soft copies to Bloggers to expose them. Their pics would be up (here) as it takes time to locate them. The Bar Council can assist in this direction by getting copies from their files & released them. Some of the images given by the police are not exactly clear