Ng Chee Sing

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

The respondent, a solicitor acting for both mortgagors (who were his nominees) and mortgagee Public Finance, concealed the true nature of two mortgage transactions and used the loan proceeds for personal investment with Tarun Jain. He failed to register the mortgages, failed to account for loan sums of $1,088,687.51, and failed to respond to clients' queries. The Disciplinary Committee and Court of Three Judges found all four charges made out under s 83(2)(b) and s 83(2)(h). The court expressly found the respondent dishonest and struck him off the roll, ordering him to bear costs.

Duties found breached:

• Keep client informed and respond promptly
• No improper use of client money
• Not misrepresent regulated status

Aggravating factors:

• Premeditated scheme with Tarun Jain to reap personal profit
• Deliberate concealment of true situation from client which was dishonest
• Abuse of confidence placed in him as solicitor
• Acting for both mortgagors (his own nominees) and mortgagee
• Failure to account for loan sums of over $1 million
• Persistent failure to respond to reminders

Mitigating factors:

• Inexperienced lawyer with only about one year in practice (rejected)
• Apparent remorse
• Partial restitution of $144,324.07 to complainants (rejected as insufficient)