The Law Society of Singapore is trying to get Charles Yeo disbarred, which means they want to permanently remove him from being a lawyer. This situation is happening while he’s a fugitive, living in the United Kingdom since 2022. The case was heard on Thursday, September 11, by the Court of Three Judges, which handles serious disciplinary issues for lawyers.
Charles Yeo wasn’t in court, and he didn’t have a lawyer there for him either. The court went ahead with the hearing because he didn’t reply to any of the notices or emails sent to him. According to the Law Society’s lawyer, Mr. Danny Ong, Charles Yeo is currently on bail in the UK, where he is facing his own legal problems.
The Law Society has presented five separate disciplinary cases against Yeo to the court. These cases highlight different kinds of misconduct found by previous tribunals.
- Mismanaging Client Funds: Three of the cases involved migrant workers who had workplace injury claims. The tribunals found that Yeo failed to properly check if the instructions given by a third party were what the workers actually wanted. In two of these cases, compensation money was given to that third party without the workers’ consent.
- Filing Improper Court Applications: Another case was about his work for two inmates on death row. He filed a review application to the Court of Appeal, which was rejected. He then filed a second application using the same arguments that had already been turned down, which is a big breach of professional rules.
- Financial Issues at His Firm: The last case involves his old law firm, Whitefield Law Corporation. A client’s money was wrongly placed in the firm’s main bank account instead of the proper client account, and the firm’s records were not kept properly.
The Law Society’s lawyer, Mr. Ong, also mentioned how Yeo had publicly criticized the judiciary and the Attorney-General’s Chambers on his Instagram page back in 2022.
Mr. Ong told the judges that the Law Society feels there is “no other appropriate sanction” than to disbar Yeo permanently. He argued that Yeo has a “serious character defect” and is “unfit” to be a lawyer. He also said that Yeo misused his power as a lawyer by improperly accessing the court and mishandling his clients’ money.
The Court of Three Judges is now considering the case and will announce its decision at a later date.
