SINGAPORE – A lawyer asked a former client if she was interested in becoming the director of a trading company, but omitted to tell her that the firm was facing a US$1.6 million (S$2.2 million) lawsuit.
After her appointment, the woman was apparently not told about various court proceedings, and was subsequently fined $25,000 for contempt of court.
Separately, Mr Peter Ezekiel also acted for the woman and her husband in a lawsuit to recover a loan.
But he mishandled the lawsuit, which ultimately led to his clients having to repurchase their own belongings at a public auction following the seizure of their assets.
Mr Ezekiel was struck off the rolls on Jan 24, 2024, over his misconduct in relation to the two sets of events.
In written grounds for the striking-off, issued on March 28, the Court of Three Judges said Mr Ezekiel demonstrated “a sustained pattern of offensive conduct which pointed to a character defect”, making him unfit to remain a lawyer.
The court is the highest disciplinary body for the legal profession.
Mr Ezekiel, who was called to the Bar in May 1996, had been suspended from practice since 2019.
In April 2019, he was given a three-year suspension for favouring the interests of one client over another.
He was handed a further two-year suspension in February 2020 for ignoring his client’s messages for 14 months after he failed to attend a crucial hearing.
The striking-off was over two separate matters that took place between 2016 and 2019.
The first was his involvement in the appointment of his former client, Ms Doan Thi Thanh Thuy, as a director of fuel trading company Hang Huo Energy, and the events that followed.
Ms Thuy and her husband, Mr Melvin Chung, had engaged Mr Ezekiel to act for them in an adoption matter in 2015.
In 2016, Mr Ezekiel asked Ms Thuy whether she would be interested in becoming a director of Hang Huo, which he falsely claimed was a dormant company.
He said the firm needed to replace another director, Mr Lim Kian Boon, who purportedly needed to return to Malaysia.
Mr Ezekiel assured Ms Thuy that she would not face any liability as long as she did not sign any personal guarantee.
He knew Hang Huo had been sued by Malaysian company Horizon Petroleum over an alleged debt of US$1.6 million.