WWLegal.com :: David Rasif Has Gone?

David Rasif Has Gone?
Posted on Tuesday, June 06, 2006 - 02:00 PM

The immediate questions on everyone’s mind concerning David Rasif’s disappearance with allegedly S$10m are:
1. What drove a lawyer, reportedly “easily worth more than the money he is alleged to have taken” to leave his wife and 3 young girls behind to face the messy fiasco? Was it simply greed, desperation or something else, or an explosive concatenation (ie combination) of circumstances?
2. Why didn’t the full-time accountant raise the alarm to the Law Society before the lawyers working under him? How effective were the tightened regulations meant to safeguard clients’ money implemented recently in 2004?
3. How much did those around him knew of his intentions to escape Singapore and for how long were the warning signs being ignored?
4. How is the legal profession going to weather yet another episode causing the members to be “deeply shocked and shamed by..(the incident)” and mend its public image?
5.How do we “move on” - a question that took on evergrowing importance since the General Election?

In the throes of “shock and shame”, it is unrealistic to expect any easy answer. However, it may be cathartic to incorporate the different perspectives just as the blind men feeling their way about the elephant. (After all, none of them was completely wrong, just completely incomplete).

One may imagine the honest sole-proprietor thinking: here we go, another rotten egg, leaving the rest of us besmirched in a mire of allegations of grossly improper conduct. Even worse, at least 2 of them are still at large, having made off with more than S$6m while the rest of us are barely slogging to pay off our debts.

Equally, one may consider the lay client asking how far he can trust lawyers to conduct his affairs, when they can’t seem to keep their own in order.

Moving to the speculative, a cynical antisocial rejoicing that there’s another rascal or maverick giving the authorities, sometimes thought to be oppressive and overbearing, the proverbial “bird”. Must be mad, did you say?

Perhaps there is some truth to that. Our social psyche has definitely been damaged and seriously impaired. At the time of this blawg, I’ve heard little of any attempt to provide relief and support to the children who , I imagine, are being hounded for soundbites or simple gossip regarding their father. If anybody’s interested, the wife’s parents do not live in Singapore and are not in a position to help with the children.

As for total strangers, I say the choice has always been : shall we walk in the light, or the dark? If we let the darkness dominate, then more than money has been stolen. If the incident has galvanised us to do good, to be even better at providing sound legal solutions to clients, we may yet see a new dawn.

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