PUTRAJAYA: A 75-year-old former lawyer has been sentenced to two years in prison by the Court of Appeal for criminal breach of trust involving RM477,000 in house sale proceeds.
A three-member panel led by Justice Datuk Azman Abdullah unanimously upheld the conviction of Ab Gani Che Man today.
The court reduced his original five-year sentence, which was imposed by the Sessions Court, down to two years.
A warrant of committal was issued for Ab Gani to begin serving his sentence immediately.
He had previously been released on RM25,000 bail with one surety pending the outcome of his appeal.
Justice Azman stated that the High Court judge had not erred in affirming the decision when dismissing Ab Gani’s appeal against his conviction.
He said the appellant was the sole individual authorised to sign cheques from the firm’s account and that the cheque issued to the complainant could not be honoured.
“After considering the appellant’s mitigation, his age, health, and the fact that the offence involved a client’s account as well as public interest, we reduced the sentence from five years to two years to begin from today,” he said.
The Sessions Court convicted Ab Gani for criminal breach of trust and sentenced him to five years in jail on December 13, 2022.
The High Court upheld both the conviction and the sentence on July 11 last year.
According to the charge, Ab Gani was entrusted with control over the balance of the house sale proceeds but failed to hand over the RM477,000 to the complainant, Mohd Rusydi Razali.
The offence occurred on April 6, 2016, at his former law firm in Desa Pandan, Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur.
The facts of the case disclosed that Ab Gani was engaged by Mohd Rusydi to handle the sale and purchase of a property, including the transfer of ownership.
The ownership transfer was completed on February 15, 2016, and the property was registered under the new buyers.
When Mohd Rusydi approached Ab Gani for the balance of the payment that was released by the bank to the firm’s client account, the appellant issued a cheque for RM477,000 on April 7, 2016.
However, the cheque was dishonoured due to insufficient funds.
In his defence, Ab Gani claimed he was not entrusted with the sale proceeds, as the funds were deposited into the firm’s client account after he had been suspended from legal practice at that material time.
He also said he was no longer involved in the firm’s management following his removal from the roll of advocates and solicitors.
Ab Gani was also a former police officer who later opened a law firm.
Lawyer Datuk Azmi Talib represented Ab Gani in today’s proceeding, while Deputy Public Prosecutor Eyu Ghim Siang appeared for the prosecution. – Bernama
