Commercial Crime Bureau officers have been searching for Kan since he fled Hong Kong in August last year, after clearing out papers from his Mongkok offices of Michael Kan and Co Solicitors.

Kan, the estranged brother of Champion Technology chairman Paul Kan Man-lok and Senior Crown Counsel Mary Kan Ma-lai, fled the territory with his Taiwanese wife and six-year-old daughter on the Liberation Day public holiday.

He left confused, unpaid staff and angry clients who had paid deposits into the lawyer's company and personal bank accounts. Some clients lost millions of dollars and at least one arrived in court for trial to find himself unrepresented.

Interpol Senior Inspector Alex Threadgill said the Red Notice was the 'most serious' of the codes. It is the only one which asks other countries to prepare for extradition.

'If someone on a red notice turned up we would immediately approach the consulate and ask them if he was still wanted,' Mr Threadgill said.

Law Society conduct section investigation officer Garbo Or Ka-po said clients who lost their deposits were on their own.

They would have to hire new solicitors to advise them whether they could claim the cash.

'We are not providing legal advice. If they want to get their money they have to consult a solicitor,' Ms Or said.

Kan was wanted for fraud in Taiwan under the name of Jude Kan Sing-nin, but changed his name through the Hong Kong Supreme Court in 1993.

He gained a licence to practice from the Hong Kong Law Society under his new name. The body only struck him from its rolls a month after he disappeared.

Police said they had traced his flight to Canada, but Canadian immigration had no record of him entering the country.

'You can leave Hong Kong on an ID card, you don't have to have a passport,' one officer said. 'You only need a passport when you enter another country.' Kan is wanted in Taiwan to answer charges of defrauding two women clients of more than $1 million in September 1992.