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Friday, April 19, 2013

BN’s Pandan hopeful Gary Lim hit by professional misconduct, fraud allegations


Screenshot of Lim’s Facebook page. Lim says he is not aware that he is under investigation by the Bar Council.KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 — Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Pandan candidate Gary Lim is likely to face a disciplinary hearing of the Malaysian Bar to answer allegations of professional misconduct and fraud, in a development that will cloud the lawyer’s chances in the May 5 polls.
The Malaysian Insider understands a hearing before the disciplinary committee of the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Board (ASDB) is likely after the Bar received complaints of legal misrepresentation and potential fraud against the 38-year-old old Lim, who was earlier this week named as the coalition’s man for the Pandan parliamentary seat.
It is understood the complaint involves allegations of misrepresentation involving a major law firm here.
He is also alleged to have breached a condition of his legal practise certificate.
“He’s likely to face a hearing of the disciplinary committee,” a source with the Bar Council said, on condition of anonymity.
The ASDB is a body set up by law to investigate professional misconduct.
Lim denied knowledge of any investigation over professional misconduct allegations when contacted last night.
“I don’t know,” he told The Malaysian Insider over the phone.
He said he had not been informed that he was under any probe nor had he received any show-cause letter from the Bar Council as at the time of contact.
According to Lim, the council will initiate its own inquiry and issue a letter to the lawyer being investigated to defend himself first before being referred to the independent disciplinary board.
He added that it depended on the kind of alleged misconduct, which could range from a client being dissatisfied with the lawyer’s service to something more serious, such as fraud.
“I have very little knowledge of what’s going on,” he said, of affairs in the legal fraternity.
The lawyer, who is replacing incumbent Pandan MP Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, said he had stopped his legal practice about a year ago due to his duties as the MCA legal bureau chief for the party’s Pandan division.
On his Facebook page, Lim is listed as a graduate of King’s College, at the University of London, who was admitted to the Bar here in 2000. 
He is listed as having been appointed a senior attorney at oil giant ExxonMobil Malaysia in 2006 and was also a nominee for global corporate magazine Acquisition International’s Legal Awards in 2011.
He is also listed as having over 11 years’ experience in handling intellectual property, information technology, communications and commercial-related matters and has worked with a wide range of clients across these areas of practice. 
Lim, who will be up against PKR’s “expose man” Rafizi Ramli in the May 5 polls, will not be the first BN lawyer to court controversy in a recent election.
In 2009, the credibility of the Umno candidate in the Permatang Pasir, Penang by-election, Rohaizat Othman, came under great public scrutiny after he was revealed to have been disbarred on March 7, 2008 for violating section 103D of the Legal Profession Act (1976), which covers misconduct by individual lawyers.
Rohaizat’s case involved a complaint over the lack of accounting for monies totalling some RM61,000 from stakeholders of Koperasi Pekebun Getah.
Disbarment does not preclude a candidate from standing as an election candidate, but the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact had capitalised on its political foe’s weakness, allowing PAS candidate Salleh Man to win the state seat by a 4,551-vote margin.

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