By David Young-
An Immigration Judge and barrister and part-time immigration tribunal judge has been convicted of defrauding the Legal Aid Agency, along with other legal professionals, in a £1.8m scam.
Part-time immigration judge Rasib Ghaffar, 45 (pictured)together with legal clerk Gazi Khan, 55, solicitor advocate Azar Khan, 52, and solicitor Joseph Kyeremeh, 73, conspired to inflate legal fees and work claimed for in 2011 and 2012 and were convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
In doing so, the group brought the legal profession to disrepute.Azar Khan was the principal partner in City Law Solicitors Ltd .
The crooks took advantage of the mechanism by which defendants who pay their own legal costs can claim some of this back from the legal aid system after being acquitted through what is known as a defendant’s costs order (DCO).
The evidence centered around four claims, arising from the legal costs of four defendants who were acquitted. These defendants were then able to apply for the legal costs of their defence to be paid by the taxpayer. These four claims amounted to £1,856,584, of which £469,477 (25 per cent) was paid out.
The firm commenced work on the case resulting in the claims on 1 July 2011, about 10 weeks before it concluded, yet claimed to have carried out over 500 hours work, costing over £162,000.
The court heard how fraudulent claims for defendant’s costs orders (DCO), where acquitted defendants who pay their own legal costs can claim some of this back from the taxpayer, were submitted to the Legal Aid Agency national taxing team on behalf of acquitted defendants in criminal proceedings in Crown courts who paid for their own legal costs.
Ghaffar, who had denied the charge against him, was responsible for a £184,000 fee note in his name relating to more than 350 hours of work. The evidence showed he had been instructed only seven days before the conclusion of the case.
Gazi Khan worked as a clerk, providing legal costs services to several firms. Azar Khan was the principal partner in City Law Solicitors, and started work on the case, resulting in the claims on 1 July 2011, some 10 weeks before it concluded, and claimed over 500 hours of work at a total of more than £162,000.
The firm’s claim also falsely backdated the work it had said it had done to include a period when it was not instructed to represent any defendant.
Kyeremeh was a principal partner in the same firm. His legal work resulted in a claim of more than £176,000, relating to 650 hours work, with £60,000 coming from public funds.
Judge Philip Burtle KC told the 54-year-old: ‘I don’t need to tell you as a member of the bar, the exceptional seriousness of which you have been found guilty.
‘An application made for £1.8m, when I haven’t a shadow of a doubt that was a dishonest application because nothing like that figure had been incurred in reality.
Deputy crown prosecutor for the CPS serious economic, organized crime and international directorate Malcolm McHaffie, said: ‘These convicted defendants defrauded the Legal Aid Agency for their own purposes. They fraudulently took advantage of a statutory scheme which was designed to help acquitted defendants with their genuinely incurred legal costs.
‘The Metropolitan Police and the CPS worked closely together to bring these corrupt legal professionals to justice and are now facing the consequences of their wrongdoing. The CPS will now commence confiscation proceedings in order to reclaim the defendants’ proceeds derived from the fraud.’
Khan, Khan and Kyeremeh were sentenced at an earlier date. Ghaffar will be sentenced later this year.
‘This is an absolutely outrageous dishonest attempt to get money out of public funds, coupled with a combination of forged documents.
‘Exceptionally serious that a member of the bar should, and I come to no other conclusion, this is as a result of greed, for the sake of greed, forging documents and claiming vast sums of money for work that was not done.’
Barristers and judges are one of the most respected professions in society, but the past couple of years has seen hundreds of lawyers either prosecuted for criminal offences or dismissed due to. misconduct.
It is a rarity to see judges in court for an criminal offence, let alone getting convivcted.