Up to 10,000 shoppers afflicted as Hong Kong Law Modern society shuts down significant conveyancing business over siphoning of money

A law company in Hong Kong has been shut down by the Regulation Society beneath the Legal Practitioners Ordinance, pending a law enforcement investigation. Photograph: EPA-EFE

A single of Hong Kong’s major regulation corporations specialising in conveyancing has been discovered to have fully commited significant fiduciary breaches which includes siphoning clients’ funds, prompting the Law Modern society to shut it down on Thursday, with resources revealing as numerous as 10,000 purchasers could have been duped.

The Regulation Society, which regulates the city’s 12,000 solicitors and some 900 law firms, explained it had identified that a previous clerk of Wong, Fung & Co experienced misappropriated unspecified sums of dollars from clients.

Other grievous breaches integrated the firm overdrawing dollars from customer accounts and making it possible for unqualified workforce to indicator off client files that required authorisation.

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An insider informed the Article that up to 10,000 purchasers were thought to be affected.

“An intervention into the exercise of a law company is a pretty major measure,” President of the Legislation Culture Melissa Kaye Pang said, stressing they ended up left with no other alternative.

Hong Kong’s Regulation Culture hits out at issues against judiciary

“The cause we resolved to intervene is due to the fact we would like to shut down the law business to protect the fascination of the customers,” she included.

She explained one more regulation business Chui and Lau Solicitors experienced been appointed to reveal the predicament to shoppers and prepare for refunds. Clientele are also recommended to reach out to Hui & Lam LLP, Kevin Ng & Co, and Tang, Lai & Leung for inquiries.

But she pressured the Regulation Modern society experienced no function in having above the operation of the closed company, and affected clients would have to access out to other firms of their have decision.

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Legislation Culture president Melissa Pang. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

The experienced overall body stopped brief of revealing details of the feasible theft, the precise number of customers influenced or the quantity of funds concerned, declaring only that an investigation was underneath way.

It also did not reveal if certain legal professionals would be held accountable.

The circumstance has been documented to law enforcement and is staying dealt with by the Business Criminal offense Bureau.

Lawyers in the trade have explained the agency as a single of the most important in the business in conditions of current market share in conveyancing, a field involving the drafting of legal documents prior to attributes modify hands.

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The Regulation Society retains a press meeting above the latest scenario. Picture: RTHK

The agency was headquartered at the Considerably East Consortium Setting up in Central, with branches in Kowloon, Tsuen Wan and Yuen Prolonged. It was last led by companions Ng Wing-hung and Yuen Kwong-keung, according to Webb-site Who’s Who, an on the net databases set up by former expenditure banker David Webb.

The organization was no more time mentioned on the Regulation Society’s web page on Thursday. The Write-up has arrived at out to the agency for comment.

The modern society exercised its ability beneath the Lawful Practitioners Ordinance to carry out the intervention. The legislation lists out specified situations in which the expert physique can intervene, which include dishonesty from a firm’s law firm, worker or trainee.

Law Society vice-president Chan Chak-ming said this was the very first time in 2020 the system experienced exercised the electric power. In the earlier 10 several years or so, the culture intervened in conditions involving 22 companies.

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