Quan Chee Seng Michael

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

Quan, a solicitor of 13 years' standing, acted for the Complainants in the sale of their HDB flat. He withdrew the entire sale proceeds ($138,895.16) in cash, made payments to a licensed moneylender (Assets) and an agent (Corin), deducted his fees, and gave clients only about $52,000, yet procured acknowledgements that clients received the full sum. The Disciplinary Committee convicted him on all four charges. The High Court found the Disciplinary Committee was not plainly wrong in preferring the Complainants' evidence over Quan and his interested witnesses. The Court found Quan's conduct was deliberate and part of a scheme to disguise excessive interest, and that he acted dishonestly. He was struck off the roll and ordered to pay the Law Society's costs. Quan was absent and unrepresented at the hearing.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• Handle inadvertently received material
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Deliberate scheme to disguise excessive interest charged to clients
• Took advantage of clients' ignorance
• Total disregard for clients' interests
• Acted in interests of moneylenders rather than clients