Ex-lawyer who misappropriated over half million dollars of client's money gets 52 months' jail, fine

A former lawyer was on May 3 jailed four years and four months with effect from 18 June and fined $5,000 in default 10 days’ imprisonment.

Soraya Hafsa Binte Ibrahim, 58, was on April 22 convicted for dishonestly misappropriating monies entrusted to her in her capacity as an attorney and for preparing papers for a grant of letters of administration after she was struck off the roll of advocates and solicitors of the Supreme Court.

Soraya pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal breach of trust and one count of preparing papers while being an unauthorised person.

One other charge of aggravated criminal breach of trust was taken into consideration during sentencing.

In 2019, when Soraya was practising as a lawyer in her sole proprietorship, Soraya H Ibrahim & Co, a client appointed her to assist with legal matters pertaining to the administration of his late mother’s estate.

The client has borderline intellectual functioning, where a person is not intellectually disabled but has below average cognitive ability, according to The Straits Times.

Despite this, he was found fit by the Institute of Mental Health to be an administrator of his mother’s estate.

Soraya arranged for the opening of an estate bank account to be operated by the client as the sole signatory.

Between May 10 and 31, 2019, Soraya prepared and asked her client to sign cash cheques issued from this 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 with a total sum of $527,002.32.

But she misappropriated the funds by using the money to pay for her personal expenses, including credit card payments and debt repayments 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.

On Jan 20, 2020, she was struck off the roll of advocates and solicitors of the Supreme Court.

Despite this, between Oct 2 and Nov 3, 2021, Soraya prepared papers for the purpose of an application for the grant of letters of administration for another client. She was paid fees of $10,000 for this matter.

She returned the money to the client after the police started investigating.

A lawyer who commits criminal breach of trust in relation to property he is entrusted with may be jailed for life or jailed for up to 20 years, and may be liable to a fine.

Soraya’s bail was set at $100,000 and she is expected to surrender herself at the State Courts on June 18 to begin serving her sentence.