- Illustrative photo.
SINGAPORE: A man who cheated a law firm’s long-term client of more than $260,000 was sentenced to three years and six months’ jail on Wednesday (Dec 4).
Ram S. Naidu, 61, who was then working as a legal executive at S K Kumar Law Practice, committed the offences after he became saddled with gambling debts.
In November, he pleaded guilty to six charges including cheating and criminal breach of trust. Thirteen other charges were considered during his sentencing.
In earlier proceedings, the court heard that he had not made any restitution.
Ram, who started working for the firm in 1994, hatched a plan to cheat after incurring gambling debts.
In 2014, the client purchased a unit at Vision Exchange, a commercial building in Venture Drive near Jurong Town Hall Road, for about $1.8 million.
Ram was tasked to help her with matters relating to the property. He was also responsible for ensuring that the client made her payments on time.
Around February 2017, he instructed her to pay the last 10 per cent of the purchase price to the law firm’s bank account, instead of directly to the property developer, which had been the case for previous payments.
He lied that the firm would make the final payment on her behalf. She transferred about $167,600 to the account.
Instead of making the final payment to the property developer, which was due on Feb 16, 2017, Ram made multiple withdrawals amounting to at least $167,600 to settle his gambling debts.
He lied to the lawyers at the firm that he needed to withdraw the money for reasons such as office expenses.
He finally paid the $167,600 to the developer on March 27, 2018, along with a late interest fee of more than $4,000.
The entire sum was from the law firm’s funds, the court heard.
Ram also cheated the same client of $50,280 by telling her that this was for the stamp duty owed on the purchase of her unit at Vision Exchange.
When she wanted to purchase a unit at Sky Habitat condominium in Bishan for her daughter in 2021, Ram used a similar strategy to deceive her.
On Jan 20, 2021, he told her that the stamp duty was due, cheating her of $42,450.
Two days later, he prepared a blank cheque for a lawyer in his firm to sign. He told the lawyer that it was for an urgent payment, and he had left the cheque blank as he was unsure of the amount at the moment.
The lawyer signed the cheque as he trusted Ram, who then withdrew $46,000 from the firm’s account to pay his debt to loan sharks.
Ram was eventually caught when the client became suspicious and alerted the police. - The Straits Times/ANN
