An ex-lawyer, dubbed the "devil's advocate" by Dutch media for representing members of the Amsterdam criminal underworld, was shot dead on Monday.

De Telegraaf daily reported yesterday that Evert Hingst was preparing to give a television interview to respond to charges that he was the "lawyer of the underworld" when he was shot on Monday evening on a street in a southern suburb of Amsterdam.

"He was shot and he died on the scene," a police spokesman said, adding the police had found a burnt-out car apparently used by the killers to escape, but had made no arrests so far.

Mr Hingst stopped working as a lawyer after he was arrested on suspicion of involvement in criminal practices himself, but he had rejected the charges and had vowed to clear his name, De Telegraaf reported.

The killing was the first in the Amsterdam underworld since property developer Willem Endstra was shot near his office in May last year, a day after denying in a television programme allegations he laundered money for criminals.