With a simple ‘I can help you’, they reel in clients desperate for a quick way out
KUALA LUMPUR: The courts have moved to cashless payments to curb touts preying on families desperate for quick fixes to legal woes – but the touts are still running rampant in court corridors.
They remain in business because they are “accessible” to the families of those facing criminal charges and are unaware or lack legal knowledge, says a lawyer.
There are many reminders posted around the court complex telling the public not to engage with touts. However, the practice is very much alive.
The touts hovering around the corridors of the court complex can easily reel in clients simply by saying: “I can help you.”
Those in need – and with little knowledge of where to seek aid – easily fall for it.
“These touts also promise fast action in handling the cases. The families don’t really know the law and think hiring touts is an easy way out,” said a lawyer who wished to be known as John.
“If anyone comes asking for cash or demanding payments outside of authorised channels, that is a sign that something is not right,” a senior court official told The Star
“You should not make any transactions outside the courtroom.”
The official said the court implemented cashless payments for court-related transactions just to combat touts.
John said he encountered touts during his time with the National Legal Aid Foundation as a chambering student.
Most of the touts were “territorial” and tried to “protect” their own prospects.
“Once, while doing legal aid, I went up to a group of accused people to check their names.
“One of the touts shouted ‘that’s my client’ and shooed me away.
“However, if you’re a lawyer from an established firm, they usually get out of your way,” he added.
Some touts also act as middlemen to secure cases for lawyers. Each referral earns them about RM100 to RM500, depending on the case.
John says besides these third party touts, there are also lawyers who “monopolise” the Magis-trate’s Courts with their own network.
These lawyers solicit cases from unrepresented persons charged in court.
Their presence, he said, was well-known within the circuit.
This exclusive network of lawyers that controls the Magistrate’s Courts usually have one of their own in each of the courtrooms.
“These lawyers take criminal cases in bulk. Their clients would usually plead guilty and cases are disposed of without having to go to trial,” John said.
These touts and their lawyers make life hard for small-time criminal lawyers who are not attached to big law firms and have to find their own clients.
Under Section 15A of the Minor Offences Act 1955, any person who offers or solicits to offer his services or is loitering in any government office of any public authority shall be guilty of an offence punishable with a fine, imprisonment or both.
For John, there is a fine line between lawyers trying to make a living and touting.
He said some of his lawyer friends had to resort to soliciting for cases as they are not big-name lawyers nor are they attached to big firms. Some just started their own firm.
“I’m quite sympathetic to the small lawyers who are trying to make a living by finding clients this way, but not the ones with a network that monopolises and controls the corridors of the courts.
“This is a breach of ethics,” he said.
