Friday, January 21, 2011

Should lawyers be held accountable?

Dear Mr. Tan,
In recent years, many consumers have been cheated on land banking plots, gold bars, spas and other scams. Most of these scams involve legal documents that were drafted by big name law firms in Singapore and were created to help the creators of these scams to avoid prosecution. Surely, the lawyers know that they are abetting their clients to cheat the public?


When the scams finally failed, the culprits have absconded with the money and could not be found. However,  the law firms that were involved with these crooks are still around. Can these law firms be charged for abetting the crime? Should the government authority take action?

REPLY
Yes, it is the duty of the Government to stop crime and protect the general public from being cheated. The lawyers who were involved should be held accountable to explain their action. The Law Society should also act against these law firms, so that the public can have respect for lawyers as people with honor and integrity and use their legal training in the interest of justice. They should not be acting for crooks to cheat the public.