KUALA LUMPUR: A 57-year-old lawyer was charged at the Sessions Court here with two counts of committing criminal breach of trust of his client's money amounting to RM374,700.
P. Santhanam who was charged in two separate courts pleaded not guilty to the offences today.
Before judge Hasbullah Adam, Santhanam, who was entrusted by his law firm with the client's bank accounts, was charged with misappropriating RM48,000 rental collection money for a premises paid to him by S. Rajaender, 67.
He allegedly committed the offence at the law firm Messrs P. Santhanam & Co at the Upper Ground Level of Viva Mall in Jalan Ipoh here between Nov 21, 2014, and June 16, 2015.
Before judge Azman Ahmad, he was charged with committing a similar offence involving a sum of RM326,700 paid to him by Tan Den Ken, 32, for the purchase of a house in Taman Sri Gombak in Batu Caves here, when the money was supposed to be handed over to a person named Wong Kim Tai, 52.
The offence was allegedly committed at the same place between October 2014 and March 2016.
Deputy public prosecutors Faridah Nurdinie Baharom and Nurashikin Ibrahim did not offer bail as the offence is non-bailable.
Santhanam was unrepresented.
The cases will be mentioned on Oct 27 and Oct 24 respectively.