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 fraudulently misappropriating the funds in her , power as an lawyer.
She pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated unlawful breach of trust and one count of preparing documents without authorization. One additional charge of aggravated unlawful breach of trust was taken into account during punishment.
She was given a 52-month prison term starting on Jun 18th, 2024, and a S$ 5, 000 fine, according to a news release from the Singapore Police Force ( SPF ) on Friday ( May 3 ). If she does n’t pay the fine, she will have to spend an additional 10 days in prison.
Soraya H. Ibrahim &, Co. was her only legal representative.
In 2019, she , had a customer who needed help with managing his dying mother’s house. A cover board flat, an insurance plan, and bank accounts were included in this.
Soraya made arrangements for the customer to open an estate bank account, which the client would serve as the client’s only signatory, according to SPF.
The buyer, a 34- year- aged man, was deemed to possess borderline academic functioning. The Institute of Mental Health, but, determined that he was fit to manage the property of his late mother.
Soraya was also aware of this lawyer’s mental incapacity.
Between May 10, 2019, and May 31, 2019, she prepared and asked her buyer to mark money cheques issued from the farm bank account.
The buyer, believing that the filing of such payments was for the proper management of the land, signed all these payments and handed them to Soraya, entrusting her, as his lawyer, with a total amount of S$ 527, 002.32.
Soraya cheated up the funds to pay for private bills, including credit card bills and debts to lenders, friends, and family members.  ,
According to the police, Soraya ultimately paid the client full restitution, the majority of which was obtained by the customer in a civil lawsuit.
On Jan 20, 2020, Soraya was disbarred for a problem split to her legal fees.
Despite this, she , prepared documents for an , program for the offer of letters of leadership for another buyer.  , For this, she was paid S$ 10, 000.  ,
After the policeman began their investigation, the customer received the money back.
A criminal breach of trust as an lawyer results in a sentence in prison of up to 20 years and a good.  ,
For preparing legal documents while illegal, a initial- time criminal can be fined up to S$ 10, 000 or, in default of pay, jailed for up to three months.