Lee Swee Seng JCA:

[1] Trust once broken is difficult to be restored. It is expected of and exacted from all professionals but no profession is more exposed to the temptations of a breach of trust than the legal profession, for in its members is reposed not just confidences but cash.

[2] Whilst competence in the law can be acquired through study and practice, moral fibre and character are assumed to be possessed by a lawyer until it is found wanting. Doubtless by that time the client would have suffered. Understandably the Bar Council is concerned that its members who have breached the trust reposed in them especially, when it comes to client's money, must be severely dealt with by no less than a disbarment from practice.

Introduction

[3] The respondent in this case, who was the applicant before the High Court, was once a member of the Malaysian Bar. He was struck off the Roll of advocates and solicitors of the High Court of Malaya in 2005. After some lapse of 25 years since the respondent was suspended in 1989 and about 12 years after he was struck off the Roll, he applied to be restored to the Roll of the honourable profession again.

In The High Court

[4] Before the High Court