Published: Friday September 11, 2009 MYT 4:39:00 PM
Court reaffirms misconduct finding on Kayveas and wife
By M. MAGESWARI
KUALA LUMPUR: Former deputy minister Datuk M.Kayveas and his wife lost their appeal when they failed to convince the High Court to overturn the decision by the Advocates and Solicitors’ Disciplinary Board which had found them guilty of misconduct.
In dismissing the appeal, High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) judge Justice Lau Bee Lan held that the Disciplinary Board was in the best position to judge the conduct of its members.
Therefore, Justice Lau ruled that the court refused to interfere into the board’s ruling.
In elaborating her grounds, Justice Lau held that that the breach of stakeholders agreement “is not merely a breach of contract but a breach of trust”.
Kayveas and his wife, Datin Blanche O’Leary had named Bar Council as the sole respondent in the civil appeal filed on April 14, 2005.
The complaint against the two was that they acted in breach of their undertaking in respect of money received as stakeholders under a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) between Jordone Corporation and Avacado Corporation Sdn Bhd.
The two allegedly received the money but did not release it in accordance with terms set out in Clause 2.
The two were the solicitors for Avacado Corporation — the vendor of a RM2mil property.
On March 17, 2005, board chairman Datuk Seri Khalid Ahmad Sulaiman said the disciplinary body had, on March 5, 2005, considered a report made by its committee and ordered both respondents to pay a penalty of RM5,000 each for misconduct.
In their appeal filed on June 21, 2005, Kayveas and O’Leary said they wanted to appeal against the board’s March 17, 2005 decision on grounds that the board had erred in law.
In their grounds, they stated that it did not take into consideration the reply to the complainant dated Dec 20, 2004.
The judge delivered her ruling on Tuesday upon hearing submissions by M. Puravalen, who represented for Kayveas and his wife and lawyer Rabindra Nathan acted for the Bar Council.
Counsel Allister Tan also appeared on behalf of the Bar Council while counsel S. Siva appeared for the board.
Tan, when contacted Tuesday, said the judge also endorsed that professional misconduct could not be limited to certain categories.
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