Justice Tay Yong Kwang made clear lawyers are not duty-bound to verify claims made by a client in a document but will be deemed liable if they know the claim to be false and dishonestly proceed.

The judge made these points after rejecting the appeal of lawyer Bachoo Mohan Singh in the grounds for his decision, which was released on Wednesday.

Singh, 61, a veteran lawyer of 30 years, was found guilty and sentenced to three months' jail in 2007 for helping to file a claim which stated that a five-room flat in Redhill was to be sold for an inflated price of $490,000 three years earlier.

He is the first person to be convicted under Section 209 of the Penal Code. The offence involves not only making a false claim but knowing the claim was false and making the claim fraudulently or dishonestly.

Following the conviction, Singh appealed. The High Court upheld the conviction but reduced the jail term to one month and added a $10,000 fine in January this year.

Lawyers followed the outcome closely as the result could affect how they carry out their work.

Lawyer Amolat Singh said, 'When the lower court's judgment was issued, we were wondering if lawyers would have to become detectives or investigators as well to look behind every document prepared for a client. But Justice Tay's judgement is reassuring in showing this is not so.'

He pointed out that the case was 'one in a million' and one lesson gleaned was for lawyers to show due diligence like recording responses to questions asked of clients to ascertain if their claim is bona fide.

Lawyer R. S. Wijaya said: 'If it goes further, the Court of Appeal may have to decide to what extent is the duty of care owed by a lawyer to his client and to what extent they are prepared to interfere and make a finding on this.'

Read the full report in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.