Gurdaib Singh S/o Pala Singh

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

The Court of Three Judges found the Respondent guilty on two charges of grossly improper conduct under s 83(2)(b) of the Legal Profession Act, to which he pleaded guilty. The first concerned his failure to pay/refund US$250,000 held in escrow, and the second his drawing of S$5,000 from the client account without leave in breach of the Solicitors' Accounts Rules. Though no dishonesty was expressly found, the court held he fell below the required standards of integrity, probity and trustworthiness and brought grave dishonour to the profession. He was struck off the roll and ordered to pay costs of S$6,000.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money
• Prompt accounting and return of money

Aggravating factors:

• Failure to make full restitution of US$250,000 to the Complainant
• Serious breach of Solicitors' Accounts Rules protecting clients' monies (not a mere technical breach)
• Deliberate breach of a formal professional undertaking, undermining integrity of the profession
• Conduct brought grave dishonour to the profession

Mitigating factors:

• No evidence the Respondent gained personally from the breach of the undertaking
• Pleaded guilty to both charges

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["review_dishonesty_finding_cue_present"]