KUALA LUMPUR: Several unscrupulous lawyers have allegedly swindled RM2.7 million from their clients in four separate criminal breach of trust (CBT) cases this month.
Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said in one case, a lawyer offered to 'safeguard' RM1.9 million worth of a client's property and valuables, as she was under a 'Mareva injunction', which freezes assets.
However, the lawyer refused to return the items when the client opted to terminate his services.
Ramli said the client, a 47-year-old company director, lodged a police report on Sept 11.
"The complainant said she engaged a law firm in 2022 to handle four civil claims. In 2023, the court issued a Mareva injunction on her assets, and the suspect offered to hold them temporarily, during the legal proceedings," he explained.
The woman transferred her assets, valued at RM1.9 million, to the lawyer. However, when she later sought to terminate his services and recover her assets, the lawyer provided excuses, and failed to return them.
In another case, a 49-year-old lawyer reported on Sept 7 that a former partner had embezzled RM339,243 from a client's account by forging signatures and signing cheques.
Despite promising to repay the stolen funds, the suspect did not do so, forcing the complainant to sell his house and take out personal loans to cover the stolen sum.
Ramli also highlighted a case involving an 81-year-old director of a construction company who, on Sept 20, reported being defrauded of RM438,000 by a law firm he had hired in 2009 to handle a lawsuit.
The complainant discovered in August 2024 that his company had won the case, but the lawyer had neither provided the relevant documents nor disbursed the RM438,397 that had been paid to the firm in 2012 after the other company was declared bankrupt.
The final case involved a 29-year-old who was cheated out of RM23,000 by a law firm handling a land purchase in Perak. The man paid legal fees in 2023, only to find out a year later that the purchase had not been completed, and the documents that had been prepared were unrelated to the land deal.
Ramli described the conduct of the lawyers involved as deeply troubling and vowed to work closely with the Malaysian Bar Council to prevent such incidents from recurring.