Lawyer Jeffrey Ong disbarred for unauthorised release of S$33m belonging to client

SINGAPORE — The former managing partner of law firm JLC Advisors, who absconded from the country in May 2019 after more than S$33 million from a client's escrow account went missing, was struck off the roll on Wednesday (Sept 14).

Jeffrey Ong Su Aun, 45, agreed to the disbarment in a short 20-minute hearing before the Court of Three Judges — the highest disciplinary body to deal with lawyers’ misconduct.

Ong's criminal case is pending before the courts. He faces 76 charges, including forgery for the purpose of cheating, and has been remanded in prison since he was first hauled to court in June 2019.

The Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) told the court on Wednesday that the only appropriate sanction for Ong was a striking-off order. This means that he will no longer be able to practise law here.

Ong had earlier pleaded guilty to seven disciplinary charges before a disciplinary tribunal convened by LawSoc.

FORGED CHEQUE, ESCROW NOTICES

LawSoc’s lawyers from Drew & Napier, led by Mr Adam Maniam, took the court through what had happened.

Ong admitted to allowing funds in the escrow account of engineering firm Allied Technologies — JLC Advisors’ client — to be paid out to parties other than the client without receiving the necessary authorisation from or informing the client.

An escrow account is used predominantly by solicitors here to control the flow of funds during various stages of the transaction for a project, for instance, the sale of a property.

Ong has since been charged with misappropriating S$33,839,674.97 from Allied Technologies' escrow account between Oct 31, 2017 and Aug 27, 2018.

Ong also admitted that he gave instructions for 15 escrow notices to be issued between November 2017 and Jan 22, 2019.

These notices stated false balances in the escrow account, which meant that Allied Technologies did not catch wind of Ong’s unauthorised transactions until much later in 2019, Mr Maniam told the court.

On March 23, 2019, Allied Technologies issued a notice for a sum of around S$33.1 million to be released from the escrow account.

Ong then sent a series of emails giving a false impression that the full amount would be released, but he knew that this would not happen because there was not enough money in the account.

Around April 15 that same year, Ong also arranged for JLC Advisors to issue a cheque for the S$33.1 million sum. He handed this cheque to Mr Kenneth Low, the executive director of Allied Technologies.

On the cheque, he allegedly forged the signature of Mr Vincent Lim, then senior partner of JLC Advisors.

Ong then fled to Malaysia about a month later. This was shortly before a May 23 Singapore Exchange filing by Allied Technologies, which first put the spotlight on Ong and JLC Advisors.

Allied Technologies had been told by JLC Advisors that S$33.4 million from its account may have been paid out under Ong's instruction.

About two weeks after absconding, Ong was arrested in a Kuala Lumpur hotel while holding on to a stolen Malaysian passport. He had disposed of his mobile phone and gotten a new one with a China SIM card before fleeing.

'I APOLOGISE'

On Wednesday, Ong — who was not represented by a lawyer — said he agreed that a striking-off order was appropriate.

“While there were underlying reasons and circumstances surrounding the facts that Mr Maniam set out, I don’t think those are relevant for those proceedings. I apologise for taking up Your Honours’ time. That’s all,” he added.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who heard the case with Justices Judith Prakash and Tay Yong Kwang, said that this was a case where a solicitor had acted dishonestly while “operating an escrow account of a very large sum”.

Other than ordering for Ong to be disbarred, they ordered him to pay costs of S$15,000 for these proceedings.

Ong was last denied bail in April last year. This came after his lawyer argued that Ong was caught with a stolen Malaysian passport that a friend had given him.