Lawyer And $37,555 Missing, Claims Client

Source : TODAY, Friday, November 23, 2007

A lawyer is alleged to have gone missing with $37,555 suspected to have been taken from a client's account.

The money allegedly came from a conveyancing transaction that Mr Zulkifli M Amin was handling for a couple selling a private property at Yio Chu Kang Road.

Ms Sharon Leong said she noticed something was amiss when she received a notice that the sale of their condominium apartment, due to go through on Nov 6, would be delayed by 10 days.

The couple had a deposit of $37,555 with the law firm, she said. When the sale went through last Friday, the cheque was returned to them. But when they tried to cash it this week, it bounced, she added.

Ms Leong said she called the law firm, Sadique Marican and ZM Amin Advocates and Solicitors, which said the amount would be returned. Yesterday, Ms Leong went down to its office at Raffles City. She claimed she was told that Mr Zulkifli, a partner, was missing and could not be contacted.

She made a police report last night. When contacted, a police spokesman told Today it was "inappropriate to comment on police investigations, if any".

The firm, a self-described "boutique practice", could not be reached for comment yesterday. According to its website, Mr Zulkifli's main role was head of the firm's conveyancing and real estate department, which has an annual turnover of "more than a million dollars", and he was "well respected" by peers.

Ms Leong, a bank officer, told Today that she and her husband had never met Mr Zulkifli. They had allegedly been introduced by the property agency handling the sale, which had acted as a middleman throughout the transaction. This was the couple's first sale of a private property.

Cases of lawyers vanishing with clients' money have made the news recently.

David Khong Siak Meng, in his 40s, allegedly skipped town in August with $68,000 after a conveyancing transaction he handled as the sole proprietor of a law firm. The Law Society is still investigating the case.

In June last year, David Rasif fled with more than $12 million of a client's funds. He was struck off the bar last week.

The case resulted in new rules that tightened the handling of clients' account by lawyers.