Mr Jeffrey Ong Su Aun, 42, the lawyer at the centre of the saga involving precision-engineering firm Allied Technologies' missing monies, took over as managing partner of boutique law firm JLC Advisors last August.
In comments reported online then, he said that he wanted to build on the work of the firm's founding partner Vincent Lim and former managing partner Desmond Ong.
He said his emphasis would be on bringing in the right people who share and buy into the firm's culture and values, and who have the potential to drive the firm's growth in the core areas of practice, such as commercial litigation, international arbitration and corporate transactional work.
"After all, and more so than in other industries, the value of a law firm is in its people," Mr Ong was quoted as saying in the report.
After graduating with a law degree from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2002, according to the NUS law faculty website, Mr Ong started his legal career in commercial litigation and dispute resolution, and then moved on to cover contentious restructuring and corporate advisory work.
On JLC Advisors' website, a profile of Mr Ong states that he represented clients in a "diverse spectrum of matters" concerning shareholder and joint venture disputes, mis-selling of complex derivative and financial products, post-acquisition disputes, white-collar crime, employment disputes and cross-border insolvencies.
"Jeffrey is equally comfortable both in the courtroom as well as the boardroom," it said on the website, which stated Mr Ong advises the boards of several public companies listed on the Singapore and Hong Kong stock exchanges. These included Annica Holdings, an engineering and oil and gas firm, from which he resigned by e-mail on Monday with immediate effect, citing "personal reasons" for his sudden departure, The Business Times said in a report yesterday.
He is also listed as an independent non-executive director of machine tool manufacturer CW Group, which is headquartered in Singapore.
The Straits Times was unable to reach Mr Ong via his work e-mail and his mobile phone. Marriage records show that Mr Ong got married in 2009 to a fellow NUS law graduate.
When ST visited the couple's condominium home in the city area yesterday, neighbours said that they hardly saw the family. A security guard at the condominium said he has not seen Mr Ong recently.
• Additional reporting by Charmaine Ng
