S$33m missing from JLC law firm; lawyer uncontactable

Singapore

IN what could be a record sum involved in such cases, some S$33 million has gone missing from the clients' account of boutique law firm JLC Advisors, where a senior lawyer has at the same time become uncontactable.

The firm has reported the case to the Law Society, which has stepped in and taken over running of the account.

The funds are believed to belong to Catalist-listed Allied Technologies. In a regulatory filing on May 8, the company reported that its auditors had flagged some observations including S$33.4 million being held in escrow by JLC Advisors.

On the same day, Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) ordered Allied Tech to "expeditiously procure the release" of the funds held with JLC Advisors and place them in an account opened with and operated by an escrow agent with a financial institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

SGX RegCo explained that this was to safeguard the cash and bank balances of Allied Tech.

It specified that the escrow account is to be operated by Allied Tech's independent directors (ID) - except for a salaried partner of JLC Advisors who is also an ID on the board.

The Business Times understands that the S$33.4 million went missing before Allied Tech could transfer the funds to a new escrow account with a bank.

Meanwhile, a senior lawyer at JLC - not the Allied ID - has gone missing.

A spokesman for the Law Society told BT on Wednesday: "As a result of information received by the Law Society, the council of the Law Society has reason to suspect dishonesty on the part of a solicitor in JLC Advisors LLP in connection with that solicitor's practice. In the circumstances, the Law Society confirms that it had intervened into JLC Advisors LLP's clients' account on May 22. "

BT's attempts to reach JLC Advisors, the missing senior lawyer and its other partners were unsuccessful.

According to its website, JLC Advisors offers a wide range of legal services, from dispute resolution to commercial and corporate law.

It was in the news when it acted for City Harvest Church in 2014 in its lawsuit against former church member and fund manager Chew Eng Han over almost S$21 million in unreturned investments including S$4.6 million in interest.

JLC Advisors' website lists three partners - managing partner Jeffrey Ong, senior partner Vincent Lim and partner Karen Pok, and two consultants.

Previous cases of lawyers absconding with clients' money include David Rasif, who ran off with S$11 million and remains at large and Zulkifli Mohd Amin, who fled Singapore after siphoning S$6 million from his firm in 2007.

Tan Cheng Yew absconded to Germany and was on the the run for about six years before he was arrested and extradited back in 2009 and handed a 13-year prison term for criminal breach of trust and cheating involving some S$5.7 million.

In 2011, laws were introduced to prevent conveyancing lawyers from absconding with their clients' funds, stopping the practice of banking money from property transactions into law firms' client accounts.

Consequently, law firms are required to open conveyancing accounts in banks appointed by the Law Minister, and withdrawals from the accounts can be made only after signatures from two parties - usually lawyers for the buyers and sellers.The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) can also hold the conveyancing money on behalf of buyers and sellers.