Lawyer charged with conspiring to cheat bank

A LAWYER of 22 years' standing was charged in court yesterday with nine counts of conspiring to cheat a bank in a housing loan scam.

Mohammed Lutfi Hussin, 48, is alleged to have conspired with former real estate agent Mohammad Sauki Mawadi to induce OCBC Bank into approving and delivering mortgage loans totalling $6.2 million in 2005 and 2006.

Sauki is said to have submitted mortgage loan applications to the bank for the purchase of nine properties in which their purchase prices were inflated so as to obtain higher loans.

The bank was deceived into giving out loans of between $320,000 and $1.4 million.

The properties in question are in Woodlands, Sembawang, Pasir Ris and Serangoon Gardens.

A pre-trial conference is scheduled for May 7.

Lutfi's lawyer, Mr George Pereira, told the court that he had just been briefed.

Lutfi's police bail of $50,000 has been extended.

A National University of Singapore law graduate, Lutfi runs his own firm Lutfi Law Corporation in Toa Payoh.

Sauki was jailed for 32 months in 2013 after admitting to 13 of 38 charges.

If convicted, Lutfi could be jailed for up to seven years and fined on each charge

This article was first published on Apr 1, 2015.
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