RUNAWAY lawyer Zulkifli Amin bolted to the Philippines on an air ticket he did not pay for. It was billed to his law firm.

As more details surface from efforts to trace more than $6 million that went missing when he vanished in November, it has also emerged that he may have used some of the money to settle costs incurred from delayed property deals.

Mr Zulkifli, 33, a lawyer for about seven years, was one of three partners in law firm Sadique Marican and ZM Amin. His partners alerted the authorities when he disappeared.

He headed the firm's conveyancing and real estate department. The Straits Times understands that as the property market took off last year, he took on more work than he could handle.

He had more than a dozen secretaries who processed and handled clients' matters, said a staff member who resigned recently. Typically, a lawyer would have up to five assistants to cope with similar property-related work.

It is believed that some of Mr Zulkifli's transactions stalled when he could not complete his work on time and there were penalties to pay for the delays.

One such transaction is believed to have led to a $200,000 penalty for a property valued at $700,000 after a delay caused the seller to offer the property to another buyer at $900,000.

A property seller who lost money on a deposit due to him from Mr Zulkifli alleged that the lawyer dipped into some other client's monies in the firm's account to fork out the difference and make the original deal stick.

Such payments are not allowed and as his troubles piled up, they may have snowballed.

The current rules are that two lawyers must sign cheques that take money out of a client's account. It appears that Mr Zulkifli acted alone and may have forged the second signature.

It is believed the $6 million disappeared as he kept 'rolling' money to pay penalties, but it is unclear how much he kept for himself before he fled.

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