Fugitive lawyer held at KLIA
 01/01/2005 The StarBY LOURDES CHARLES

KUALA LUMPUR: A lawyer who allegedly embezzled hundreds of thousands of ringgit belonging to the Government has been arrested at the KL International Airport while attempting to flee the country.

It was learnt that the lawyer, in his 40s, who has been on the run since 2001, was arrested at about 7.30pm by police officers from the city commercial crimes division led by its investigating officer Sgt A. Elil.

Immigration officers prevented the lawyer from boarding the aircraft when they noticed that he was on the police wanted list.

The lawyer, who fled Malaysia in 2001 and has been in and out of the country since then, was heading for a neighbouring country on Thursday.

Sources familiar with the case said the lawyer specialised in handling government housing loans. They said the lawyer would allegedly act as stakeholder for purchasers in all the deals and in several cases, the money was not paid to the developer or seller.

His last victim was a doctor from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, who applied for a RM130,000 loan to buy a house.

The ownership of the house was successfully transferred to the doctor’s name but the seller did not receive the RM130,000.

The doctor lodged a report and police had been looking for the lawyer in Sarawak and in several other states.

City commercial crimes division chief Supt Mohd Shariff Wahid said police were trying to determine if the lawyer had been involved in similar cases in other states.

“The lawyer has been remanded to assist us in our investigations,” he said.