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SINGAPORE – The Three-Judge Court examined these three precedent cases related to conflicts of interest before issuing a 15-month suspension to attorney Lee Suet Fern for her role in preparing and executing her father-in-law Lee’s last will. Kuan Yew.
1. Ahmad Khalis Abdul Ghani
A client named Rasid ordered Mr. Ahmad Khalis Abdul Ghani to file a petition for documents to administer his late father’s estate.
The other beneficiaries of the estate had doubts that Mr. Rasid was the sole administrator.
The lawyer assured them that Mr. Rasid could not deal with the assets, which included property, without their consent.
Later, Rasid mortgaged the property to guarantee a loan without the knowledge of the other beneficiaries. He fell behind on his mortgage payments, leading to the bank’s foreclosure.
The attorney was found to have an implicit attorney-client relationship with the other beneficiaries and was unable to free himself from the conflicting position.
He was suspended for two years.
2. Peter Ezekiel
Mr. Peter Ezekiel acted for two clients with conflicting interests and ended up favoring one over the other.
A client was an employee accused of making a false statement in his application for work permit inflating his salary. The other was the worker’s employer, who countersigned the request.
The employee told the attorney that he had been misled by his employer and that he really believed that his salary was the amount indicated on the application.
The lawyer did not convey this to the Attorney General’s Office in written statements. The worker was fined $ 6,000 and repatriated to India.
The lawyer, who had a record, was suspended for three years.
3. Kay Swee Tuan
Ms. Kay Swee Tuan asked a fellow attorney to certify a durable power of attorney (LPA) that would give her sister, Ms. Kay Swee Pin, the power to act on behalf of the latter’s long-time partner. , Mr. Ng Kong Yeam.
An LPA is a document that allows one person, known as a donor, to designate another, known as a grantee, to make decisions on their behalf in the event that they lose the mental capacity to do so.
Ms. Kay Swee Tuan had asked Mr. Sum Chong Mun to certify the form after his signature was rejected due to his relationship with the donee.
Her conduct was deemed to be a conflict of interest, as she succeeded in getting Mr. Sum to help her sister become a donee, without regard to Mr. Ng’s interests.
It was suspended for two and a half years.
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