A client of the US-based law firm K&L Gates yesterday asked a court to order the return of US$4.5 million it said had been entrusted to the firm's Hong Kong office.
The plaintiff, a financial services company called Top Point, said money was held in escrow by K&L Gates and was part of the HK$780 million allegedly stolen by one of its former partners, Navin Kumar Aggarwal.
Aggarwal, who lives in Hong Kong, was charged in August with three counts of theft and three counts of forgery for allegedly stealing HK$780 million from the firm in the first seven months of last year.
The firm, which has about 2,000 lawyers in 37 offices across three continents, had earlier taken action to sue its former partner and secured an asset-freezing injunction against Aggarwal, who is a Hong Kong resident.
Charles Sussex SC, for K&L Gates, yesterday opposed Top Point's claim, saying that mainland entities to whom the missing money had been lent were 'either fabricated or forged by Aggarwal'.
Sussex argued that Aggarwal was the architect behind Top Point's loss, for which K&L Gates could not be blamed.
