Court hears lawyer broke ethics code

A solicitor involved in US mobile giant Motorola's multibillion-dollar lawsuit against a fugitive Turkish family allegedly breached the Law Society's code of professional conduct by agreeing to forgo her legal fee unless she won the case, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.

The arrangement between the solicitor, Phyllis Kwong Ka-yin, and four of the 12 defendants in the Motorola claim gave Kwong a financial interest in the case, barrister Douglas Clark told the court.

Clark was representing the law firm Angela Ho & Associates, which is pursuing Kwong for HK$1.7 million in legal fees for representing Kwong and her former clients.

Kwong is also a defendant in Motorola's lawsuit.

The company alleges that five members of the Uzan family, once one of Turkey's wealthiest and the former owners of Turkish telecommunications company Telsim Mobil Telekomunikasyon Hizmetleri AS, embezzled money it had loaned them. US and UK courts have granted Motorola the right to pursue Cem Uzan and others for US$5.26 billion, at least some of which Motorola alleges the Uzans have placed in assets based in Hong Kong.

Kwong and her four clients, Colin Alan Cook, HPF Private Investment Fund Company, AA Capital Investments and Hijaz Investments Hong Kong were not members of the Uzan family but were alleged to be nominees or holding companies of the family's assets.

Clark said Kwong had approached Angela Ho & Associates in March and asked the firm to take over the case. The firm claimed Kwong agreed to be responsible for the legal fees, but when it asked for the money in April and May, Kwong claimed she had lost contact with her clients and denied she owed it.