Nor ain Bte Abu Bakar

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

The High Court of Singapore struck off two advocates and solicitors (the first and third respondents) for fraudulent conduct in assisting a bankrupt client (Jafar) and his company (JAK) to deceive the court into paying out $4.27m held in court, which belonged to estate beneficiaries and was thereby dissipated. The court expressly found both had acted fraudulently, having concealed material facts (competing claims, prior dismissal of a garnishee application, and the fact the funds were paid into court in separate proceedings) from Assistant Registrar Ching and later from Rajah J. The second respondent, whom the Law Society charged only with grossly improper conduct (not fraud/dishonesty), admitted her charges and was suspended for three years given her lesser culpability. Costs were awarded against the respondents: the second respondent to pay $3,000, and the first and third respondents jointly and severally to pay the remaining costs and disbursements, on the standard basis for three counsel.

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• No improper communication with the court
• Personal probity and fitness to practise
• No baseless or threatened misconduct report
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Deception resulted in dissipation of $4.27m no longer recoverable, causing serious loss to beneficiaries of the estate
• Abuse of the court's trust in officers of the court
• Third respondent's long professional relationship with Jafar and prior questionable dealings; sham retainer of clients Musa and Salim; acting against own clients' interests
• Deliberate and repeated non-disclosure across multiple hearings before different judges
• Third respondent attempted to also obtain the balance of the moneys in court for his own firm

Mitigating factors:

• Second respondent played a lesser role in the affair and admitted her conduct was improper (relevant to her lesser sanction)