YET another lawyer has admitted to touting for business, this time by handing out shopping vouchers to property agents in exchange for conveyancing work.
But lawyer Yap Kok Kiong, 42, was spared a fine or disciplinary action. A disciplinary committee appointed by the Chief Justice to look into the case found there was 'no cause of sufficient gravity' for Mr Yap's case to be referred to a Court of Three Judges for further action.
It is understood that the committee's report is being considered by the Law Society, which will decide whether to accept its recommendation and close the case, or refer it for further action to the court of three judges specially convened to hear matters against lawyers.
The committee said it had reached its decision after taking into account Mr Yap's various contributions to the community, the circumstances of the offence and his agreement to pay the $18,000 for the hearing costs.
The lawyer of 16 years' standing and managing partner of KK Yap & Partners gave shopping vouchers valued at between $10 and $50 over a 15-month period from December 2001 to several estate agents who recommended conveyancing clients to him.
He said they were meant as gestures of appreciation in lieu of small gifts or hampers, which other businesses were known to give to clients.
It was pointed out that the number of such vouchers given out were small compared to the 1,729 files opened by the firm during the same 15-month period.
He said he stopped the practice in March 2003 after learning from an estate agent that several of them had misconstrued the practice as an entitlement for referring work to the firm.
But a year later, the Law Society received an anonymous complaint about Mr Yap's handouts, sparking an investigation.
A check by The Straits Times revealed Mr Yap had been reprimanded by the Law Society on a previous occasion.
According to the January 2003 issue of the Law Gazette, he was then probed by a disciplinary committee for offering to refund half the cost of legal services to some owners of a private estate earmarked for collective sale, if he was retained by any of them in the purchase of new property. He also paid $7,000 in hearing costs.
At least three other lawyers from different firms have been investigated in relation to the recent spate of alleged misconduct involving property deals.
vijayan@sph.com.sg
