The Hong Kong Law Society succeeded yesterday in having colourful solicitor Josip Ma Pui-tung declared bankrupt after he failed to pay costs over an earlier courtroom clash. Ma captured the public's attention last October after he arrived at his appeal against the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal wearing Arabic attire he bought in the Middle East. He said he wore the clothes because he liked Islamic culture. The Court of Appeal heard the solicitor was fined $170,000 by the tribunal for breaching professional conduct over his handling of a High Court case involving a property sale in Tai Po. He was also barred from running his own legal firm or being in a legal partnership for six months and ordered to pay 80 per cent of the tribunal's legal costs, which amounted to about $4 million. Yesterday, Mr Justice Andrew Chung On-tak of the Court of First Instance gave the go-ahead for the Law Society to have Ma declared bankrupt after he failed to pay $39,549 - a portion of the costs owed.