INQUIRY TO BE HELD INTO DEAD LAWYER'S DRUG MONEY LINK

AN investigation is to begin today into the company finances of a
lawyer whose death has been linked to a UKP100,000 laundering deal
with a murdered gangster.

The Law Society of Scotland inquiry follows reports claiming that the
Glasgow solicitor was murdered over a deal with a criminal who was
later shot dead.

Jack Quar, 49, of Hughes McVey & Quar, was found hanged at his office
last November. His colleagues said the suicide of the former army
intelligence major was totally out of character.

Mr Quar's client, Manny O'Donnell, a known criminal, was murdered
several days later and his body dumped outside Glasgow.

Newspaper reports at the weekend claimed that O'Donnell had stolen
drugs from a big dealer, sold them, then given Mr Quar UKP100,000 "to
invest". It is further suggested that after O'Donnell was murdered in
retribution, his killers traced the money to Mr Quar, whom they
killed, faking his suicide.

Strathclyde police dismissed the suggestion that Mr Quar was murdered
as "arrant nonsense" yesterday and repeated that their initial
investigation did not suggest anything other than suicide.

However, the suggestion of a murder scenario and a link with gangsters
will motivate the law society to investigate. A Glasgow legal source
said: "The principals [of the legal firm] will welcome an
investigation, to protect their reputation."

Representatives of the company and the society were unavailable for
comment, but the legal source said: "I would expect an investigation
to be launched. The newspaper suggestions have huge implications for
the company.

"I had coffee with Jack Quar days before his death and he seemed in
good spirits. It was truly a shock; however, if he had problems the
escape of suicide may have suited his sense of military honour. The
mystery is the lack of a suicide note."

A colleague of the dead man added: "He was very precise and one would
expect a note, in effect tying up the loose ends.

"However, who knows what's going on in the mind of a person who kills
himself? His firm was solid; his home life was appar-ently happy and
he did not appear to have money worries."

A detective said: "Suggesting he was murdered is nonsense. There was
no evidence to indicate anything other than suicide. The only mystery
is why? However, who knows what causes such tragedies to occur?"