Lawyer charged with CBT amounting to over RM370,000

KUALA LUMPUR: A lawyer was charged in two separate Sessions courts here today on two charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT) on premises rental collections and the purchase of a house belonging to two of his clients amounting to over RM370,000, three years ago.
P. Santhanam, 57, pleaded not guilty to the charges before Sessions judges Hasbullah Adam and Azman Ahmad.
As advocate and solicitor of a firm entrusted with the control of RHB Bank's clients' account money, he was charged with CBT involving stakeholder sum of RM48,000 for premises rental collection which was paid by businessman S. Rajaender, 67.
On the second count, he was charged with CBT pertaining to stakeholder sum of RM326,700 which was paid by marketing officer Tan Den Ken, 32, for the purchase of a house in Taman Sri Gombak, Batu Caves, Selangor whereby the money should have rightly be handed over to one Wong Kim Tai, 52.
The accused was charged with committing both offences at P. Santhanam & Co. at B-2-13A, Block B, Viva Mall in Jalan Ipoh near here between Nov 21, 2014 and June 16, 2015, and Oct 2014 and March 2016.
Both courts did not allow bail and fixed re-mention dates on Oct 24 and 27 for the accused to engage counsel. — Bernama