Chua Seng Hock Peter

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

The Law Society brought show-cause proceedings against three advocates arising from their involvement in Jafar/JAK's scheme to extract from court the sale proceeds of estate properties. The first and second respondents (partners of ABTIP) acted for JAK; the third respondent acted for Musa and Salim. They obtained a default judgment and made a payment-out application in the wrong suit, concealing from the court that the moneys had been paid into court in separate proceedings and that there were competing claims, thereby procuring payment out of $4.27m which was then dissipated. The High Court found express fraud/dishonesty against the first and third respondents and struck them off the roll. The second respondent, found guilty only of grossly improper conduct (the Law Society declined to charge her with fraud), was suspended for three years. Costs: the second respondent to pay $3,000; the first and third respondents jointly and severally to pay the remaining costs and disbursements of the DC and court proceedings, with three counsel certified.

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 of the court resulting in dissipation of $4.27m no longer recoverable, causing serious loss to estate beneficiaries
• Deliberate concealment of competing claims and the payment-into-court order from Assistant Registrar Ching and Justice Rajah
• Third respondent's sham retainer, acting against own clients' interests and collusion with Jafar; his prior questionable dealings warranting caution
• Filing the payment-out application in the wrong suit to pre-empt competing applications and obtaining an urgent hearing by a ruse
• Repeated non-disclosure across multiple court hearings

Mitigating factors:

• Second respondent admitted her conduct was improper, played a lesser role, and cooperated (leading to reduced charges)

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_suspension_months=36"]