More than 60 CBT cases involving lawyers recorded since 2022

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 60 Criminal Breach of Trust (CBT) cases involving lawyers have been recorded since 2022, resulting in some RM66mil losses, says Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf.

The Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director said 29 cases were recorded in 2022, resulting in losses of RM13mil.

“Last year, the number spiked to 31 cases with RM33.3mil losses.

“As of July this year, 27 cases have already been recorded involving RM20.3mil in losses.

“We expect the number of cases to continue to increase,” he told a press conference at the CCID headquarters on Tuesday (Aug 13).

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Comm Ramli said he has met with the Bar Council and recommended they study and address the issue.

Meanwhile, Comm Ramli said a 72-year-old retiree in Selangor recently lost about RM140,000 after a law firm allegedly cheated him.

“He had appointed a law firm on Nov 27 last year to manage the sale of a piece of land in Batu Pahat, Johor.

“An agreement was signed by the victim (who is the seller) and the buyer on March 14.

“On June 20, the buyer obtained a RM140,000 loan to fund the land purchase and deposited it into a client account handled by the law firm. However, the victim never got the payment,” he said.

Comm Ramli said the victim received two cheques from the law firm in July, but both cheques bounced.

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“We are investigating the case under Section 409 of the Penal Code,” he said.

In another case, a 51-year-old male real estate agent in Johor claimed that he was cheated of RM833,473 by a law firm, Comm Ramli said.

“The victim had appointed a law firm to manage his company’s service fee payments in 2013.

“A bank account was opened under the firm’s name to receive the payments from the victim’s clients, and a total of RM833,473 was deposited into the account,” he said.

Comm Ramli said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigated and subsequently charged the victim in 2017, and the funds in the account were frozen.

“However, in May this year, the suspect was acquitted of the charge and the funds were released.

“In June, he filed a demand with the law firm to hand over the funds, but the firm failed to do so.

“In July, a lawyer from the law firm met the victim and claimed he wanted to use the funds to prevent his house from being auctioned off.

“The victim then discovered the funds were no longer in the account and lodged a police report,” he said.