PRESS RELEASE: Unauthorised Persons - Public Beware!
Contributed by Lim Chee Wee
Wednesday, 04 July 2007 04:17pm
The Bar Council has, from time to time, received reports/complaints regarding
individuals, firms and companies who pass themselves off as being authorised to
offer legal services to the general public or who masquerade as licensed West
Malaysian advocates and solicitors.
Pursuant to s. 37 of the Legal Profession Act 1976, any unauthorised person who
acts as an advocate and solicitor or an agent for any party to court proceedings
or wilfully or falsely pretends to be, or uses any name, title or description
implying that he is fully qualified or authorised to act as an advocate and
solicitor shall be guilty of a criminal offence.
One of the most common e-mail scams today is in the form of an invitation sent
out under a "lawyer's" or "legal firm's" name, sometimes completely fictitious
and sometimes "borrowed" from a registered firm, inviting the potential victim
to participate in a scheme whereby they stand to inherit a huge sum of money
from deceased clients who bear the same surname of the individual, if the said
individual consents to be named as next-of-kin. Once the potential victim shows
interest, official looking "court documents" are forwarded as proof that the
deal is legitimate. Prior to release of the funds, the victim will be asked to
deposit several thousand dollars as an "administrative fee" payable to the
Malaysian Government into a specific bank account.
Upon receiving such a report/complaint, the Bar Council Malaysia will check its
records to ascertain whether the individual named is an advocate and solicitor
registered with the Bar Council and once it is confirmed that the individual is
in fact an unauthorized person, a police report is lodged. To date, over 50
police reports have been lodged by the Bar Council in respect of similar scams.
The Bar Council is concerned at the growing number of such reports being
received, many from foreign nationals and strongly advise members of the public
to check with the Bar Council's Secretariat at council@malaysianbar.org.my on
the status of the lawyer/firm should you receive a similar e-mail or if you are
uncertain as to the status of the lawyer/firm.
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Talk on Summary Judgement (25 May 2012) Organised by the Selangor Bar Committee, this talk will take place at 5:00 pm, at the Selangor Bar Committee Auditorium, on 25 May 2012 (Friday). The talk will be conducted by Ramesh Supramanian. Click on the link above for more details.
Seminar on Tax Issues in Financial Transactions (25 May 2012) Organised by the Kuala Lumpur Bar Professional Development Committee, this seminar, featuring S Saravana Kumar, will take place at 3:00 pm, at the Kuala Lumpur Bar Auditorium, on 25 May 2012 (Friday). Click on the link above for more details.
Dialogue with Criminal Law Practitioners (26 May 2012) Organised by Bar Council, this dialogue will take place at 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, at the Raja Aziz Addruse Auditorium, Bar Council, on 26 May 2012 (Saturday). Click on the link above for more details.
Conference on Competition Law (31 May 2012) Organised by Bar Council with the support of LexisNexis, this conference will take place at 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel, on 31 May 2012 (Thursday). For more details or to register, please contact Vilashini Vijayan (03-2050 2095; vila@malaysianbar.org.my). Click on the link above for more details.
Talk on What Clients Want (7 June 2012) Organised by the KL Bar Practitioners' Affairs Committee, the talk, presented by Ong Eu Jin, will take place at 5:00 pm, at the KL Bar Auditorium, on 7 June 2012 (Thursday). Click on the link above for more details.
4th LAWASIA Family Law Conference, Penang (13 and 14 July 2012) Supported by Penang Bar Committee and the Malaysian Bar, this conference, themed “The New Global Family: Emerging Trends and Challenges to Family Practice”, will take place at Traders Hotel, Penang, on 13 and 14 July 2012 (Friday and Saturday). Click on the link above for more details.
News/Notices 
The Bar Council has, from time to time, received reports/complaints regarding
individuals, firms and companies who pass themselves off as being authorised to
offer legal services to the general public or who masquerade as licensed West
Malaysian advocates and solicitors.
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