Outfit with branches across Hong Kong taken over because of alleged ‘irregularities’
EDDIE.LEE@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Friday, 29 April, 2016, 7:45am
Messrs Hastings & Co. has been made the “intervention agent”. Photo: Edward Wong
Clients of a multi-branch law firm were left high and dry after their money and the practice were put under the control of the Law Society of Hong Kong.
The professional association said the move was necessary as it found the firm had got involved in certain alleged “irregularities”.
Law firm Messrs Alan Ho & Co. ceased practice after the Law Society carried out an “intervention” relating to its operations about two weeks ago and appointed a separate firm. Messrs Hastings & Co., as the “intervention agent”.
“The Law Society is investigating the irregularities involved in accordance with the relevant procedures,” it said. “Members of the intervened firm can no longer provide any legal service to the public on behalf of the firm.”
On Thursday morning, Messrs Alan Ho & Co.’s office in a Tsim Sha Tsui office building was locked and sealed, without anyone answering the door.
An information desk receptionist in the building, who declined to disclose her name, said the law firm had rented a unit in the office block and its operations had never seemed to have any problems until representatives of Hastings and the Law Society took control of its office on April 14.
“Few people came to this office since then,” she said.
“I don’t think its landlord was owed any rent. I’ve never heard of that,” the receptionist added.
Apart from the Tsim sha Tsui office, Messrs Alan Ho & Co. also had operations in Yau Ma Tei. It had two other branch offices in Tsuen Wan and Sheung Shui, in the New Territories.
The society’s vice-president, Thomas So Shiu-tsung, said the firm provided a comprehensive range of services for many clients. But he declined to reveal how many of them were affected by its closure. Nor did he specify when the clients could have their money back.
So said the society exercised its power of intervention for the protection of the public, in accordance with the Legal Practitioners Ordinance. “There is evidence that irregularities occurred,” the veteran solicitor said.
But So declined to disclose more details as the investigation was still under way.
Through the intervention agents, the Law Society took control of Messrs Alan Ho & Co.’s offices and its clients’ money.
The process of distributing clients’ money that is with the firms may involve court proceedings.
Claimants would be required to produce documents to verify their claims.
So said such interventions were rare and it was still too early to say whether Messrs Alan Ho & Co. would end up closing down its business.
“There was a case in which an intervened firm was able to resume its operations after it remedied the irregularities,” the lawyer said. “But it is hard to generalise from just a few past cases.”
According to the society, there have been three interventions by the body since 2014, including the present case.
In one case back in 2014, the Law Society resolved to intervene in the practice of a different law firm because the body suspected instances of “dishonesty” by its sole practitioner.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1939884/hong-kong-law-society-takes-control-firm
