Former lawyer gets 52 months' jail for misappropriating more than S$527,000 from client
SINGAPORE: A former lawyer who siphoned about S$527,000 (US$386,900) from a client has been sentenced to jail.
Soraya Hafsa Ibrahim, 58, had been convicted on Apr 22 of dishonestly misappropriating the money in her capacity as an attorney.
She had pled guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal breach of trust and one count of preparing papers while being unauthorised. One other charge of aggravated criminal breach of trust was taken into consideration during sentencing.
She was sentenced to 52 months' imprisonment with effect from Jun 18, 2024, and a fine of S$5,000, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a news release on Friday (May 3). If she does not pay the fine, she will have to serve an additional 10 days in prison.
Soraya was the sole lawyer and proprietor of Soraya H Ibrahim & Co.
In 2019, she had a client who needed assistance with managing his deceased mother's estate. This included a Housing Board flat, an insurance policy scheme and bank accounts.
Soraya arranged for the opening of an estate bank account for the client, to be operated by the client as the sole signatory, SPF said.
The client, a 34-year-old man, was deemed to have borderline intellectual functioning. However, he was assessed by the Institute of Mental Health to be fit to be an administrator of his late mother's estate.
Soraya was well aware of this client's mental incapacity.
Between May 10, 2019, and May 31, 2019, she prepared and asked her client to sign cash cheques issued from the estate bank account.
The client, believing that the signing of such cheques was for the proper administration of the estate, signed all these cheques and handed them to Soraya, entrusting her, as his attorney, with a total sum of S$527,002.32.
Soraya misappropriated the funds to pay for personal expenses including credit card bills as well as debts to banks, friends and relatives.
"Soraya eventually made full restitution to the client, most of which was paid pursuant to a court order obtained by the client in a civil suit," the police said.
On Jan 20, 2020, Soraya was disbarred for a matter separate to her criminal charges.
Despite this, she prepared papers for an application for the grant of letters of administration for another client. For this, she was paid S$10,000.
The sum was returned to the client after the police began investigating the matter.
Criminal breach of trust as an attorney carries a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine.
For preparing legal documents while unauthorised, a first-time offender can be fined up to S$10,000 or, in default of payment, jailed for up to three months.
