Mr Leonard Loo Peng Chee, 42, a practicing lawyer for about 16 years, will have to go before a Court of Three Judges – the highest disciplinary body for the legal profession – for failing to issue a receipt and render accounts for the funds he received from a client.
The management corporation of Haig Eleven condominium engaged the services of Mr Loo in May 2008 and gave him a crossed cheue for $800. Four months later, the condo lodged a complaint with The Law Society alleging that Mr Loo had neither acknowledged receipt of the payment nor provided a statement of accounts, amongst other things.
During the investigations by the Law Society, Mr Loo said that he had no details of the cheque and even alleged that he was not paid. The investigating tribunal of the Law Society found that the condominium had paid him and ordered him to issue a receipt. Only on 1 April 2000, Mr Loo provided the Law Society with a receipt dated 20 May 2008 for $800.
Mr Loo, who is no longer a practising lawyer, had been rebuked by a High Court judge in 2010 for providing “slipshod work” to a group of clients. In March last year, another former client of his also accused Mr Loo of leading him to commit perjury – which he denied.
