Alex Tan Chie Sian

On the court record

A mixed practice combining criminal-breach-of-trust work with commercial and contract litigation.

Alex Tan Chie Sian practises across both crime and civil work, appearing mainly in the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) with some Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) matters. The reported decisions span two fields. On the criminal side the work engages criminal breach of trust under "seksyen 405 Kanun Keseksaan" (section 405 of the Penal Code) and the related dishonest-misappropriation offence under section 403, together with abetment under section 109 and appeals against conviction and sentence, engaging the close-of-case provision in "seksyen 182A" of the Criminal Procedure Code.

On the civil side the reported matters centre on commercial disputes, including a matter turning on whether a loan agreement was valid and enforceable, an application to set aside an injunction order, and claims for damages. A distinctive procedural feature is an application to give evidence by way of remote communication technology. Appearing as defendant, plaintiff and appellant, the practice is instructed on both sides of commercial disputes and in the defence of criminal charges, giving it a broad base.

The work is document- and evidence-intensive across both fields. In the breach-of-trust matters the argument concerns the entrustment of property and its dishonest use; in the loan matters the validity and construction of the agreement; in the injunction matters whether the order was properly granted; and in the criminal appeals the sufficiency of the evidence and the correct application of the statutory test at the close of the case. The two strands share little doctrinally but both turn on careful analysis of the record.

The overall profile is a mixed practice combining criminal-breach-of-trust and general criminal work with commercial and contract litigation, conducted mainly at first instance in the High Court. The matters turn on the Penal Code on the criminal side and on the construction of commercial agreements on the civil side, rather than on public-law questions, marking a practice with a base across the criminal and civil courts.