FORMER white-collar crime buster Glenn Knight is back in the thick of the latest trend in the legal world - financial crisis 'Swat teams' - and eager to prove his worth.
The former Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) director has been made a partner in Colin Ng and Partners LLP (CNP) and a member of its Financial Crisis Integrated Response and Support Team.
The 16-strong team - set up in October and bringing together experts in different fields within the firm - offers advisory services to firms and banks caught up in the financial crisis.
In 1994, Mr Knight was disbarred after being convicted of corruption. He resumed practising after a near 13-year hiatus when he was reinstated to the Singapore Bar last May.
With this new job, he is looking forward to showing he still has what it takes to take on big commercial crime cases. The Swat team might, for instance, have to tackle fraud and insidertrading cases.
Said Mr Knight in an interview with my paper yesterday: 'These 18 months (after being reinstated) have given me the chance to develop myself and the opportunity to prove my worth. 'Having been a prosecutor, I can tell when people have done something wrong.'
The financial crisis is expected to bring an increase in 'contentious work'. Anecdotally, CNP has already seen an increase in enquiries involving insolvency and arbitration matters, said Mr Pradeep Kumar Singh, a senior partner.
That's where Mr Knight comes in.
'We expect Mr Knight to play a leadership role in civil and criminal litigation cases,' said Mr Peter Cuthbert Low, senior lawyer and partner of the firm.
Mr Knight's vast legal experience include being the director of the CAD - which he set up - from 1984 to 1991.
But in 1991, he was convicted of using false documents to obtain a government vehicle loan and attempted cheating.
In 1998, Mr Knight was again tried and convicted for misappropriating funds when still the director of the CAD.
As of the beginning of the year, Mr Knight is one of the only three disbarred lawyers in 20 years to have been reinstated, according to previous Straits Times reports.
The legendary former deputy public prosecutor is surprisingly soft-spoken in person.
When asked if his past has changed him, he said after a poignant pause: 'It's been, what, 17 years. It's been a long time.
