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Date posted on UnjustIS

Barrister's £17.5m sham VAT claim

A barrister who tried to claim a £17.5m VAT repayment for the bogus sale of four Boeing 747 engines has been jailed for five years. John Wilmot, 35, who worked in Temple Chambers, said he paid more than £100m for the engines in south London then sold them to an Iraqi businessman.
He was convicted of cheating the public revenue at Southwark Crown Court. "This was an audacious attempt to obtain a very large sum of public money," said Judge Deborah Taylor.

BBC

01 Jul

FSA bankrupts 'boiler room' accomplice

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has obtained a bankruptcy order against Mr Samuel Nathan Kahn (“Mr Kahn”) who controlled the affairs of Chesteroak Limited (“Chesteroak”) and Bingen Investments Limited (“Bingen”), two UK based companies that helped boiler rooms illegally sell shares to investors. In October 2007, Mr Kahn admitted liability for claims totalling up to £3.7m made by the FSA on behalf of about 800 UK investors, but disputed the amount. Mr Kahn then placed himself into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (“IVA”) to try to defeat the FSA’s claim. As a result, the FSA applied for Mr Kahn’s bankruptcy so a claim for the full amount he owed to investors could be made against his estate.

FSA

26 Jun

Jane Elizabeth Loveday

 The SDT ordered that the respondent, of 69 Middle Street, Deal, Kent CT14 6HP, should be struck off the roll. The respondent had been guilty of unbefitting conduct in that she had failed to pay agent’s fees promptly or at all; had failed to reply to correspondence from clients, solicitors and/or the Law Society promptly or at all; had failed to act in her clients’ best interests; had provided misleading information to clients; had been responsible for unreasonable delay in the conduct of professional business; had rendered bills of costs that she knew or ought to have known were excessive; had transferred funds from client accounts in breach of the Solicitors Accounts Rules; had failed to account properly for monies received on behalf of clients; had obtained the signature of a client on particulars of claim without providing those particulars of claim to the client for verification and/or approval; had provided misleading information to a court; and had failed adequately to supervise offices. While the SDT noted information regarding the respondent’s ill health, the information related to a period after the events which were the subject of the allegations. Taken in its totality the respondent’s conduct was very serious and had adversely affected clients at a time of particular vulnerability. The SDT considered that the respondent’s conduct had been grossly reckless. The reputation of the profession had been severely damaged. The respondent was ordered to pay £20,000 costs.

Law Society Gazette

23 Jun

Businessman is threatened with bailiffs over 1p

IT’S like something from a DJ’s prank call. Businessman Bob Nicks has been threatened with the bailiffs for one penny after claims he plays music over a radio at work. The bizarre lawsuit is being pursued on behalf of the Performing Rights Society (PRS), which collects royalties for musicians...When a letter from solicitors Nelson, Guest & Partners, based in Sidcup, Kent, landed on the doormat, threatening him with legal action unless his “debt” of a penny was paid up to debt collectors, Bob thought someone was playing a trick on him. The letter read: “You may consider this debt as too small to warrant legal proceedings. However, we are firmly instructed to commence proceedings for recovery unless payment is made within seven days.“ In the event of a judgement being obtained we shall seek all fixed costs and fees together with statutory interest". (It's not the bill, it's the principle, isn't it, guys? UJ)

Evening Chronicle

19 Jun

Crackdown on immigration racket as detainees escape

Police and immigration officers swooped to close down a massive immigration racket today with a series of dramatic raids on bent solicitors and bogus colleges. But the operation - part of a new Home Office crackdown on immigration offenders - was marred by a break-out at an immigration detention centre.

Independent

19 Jun

Barristers 'exploiting misery' as fees in family law cases rise 25% in 5 years

Barristers have been making millions of extra pounds from the misery of families and children caught up in the family courts, according to new figures released by ministers yesterday. Fees paid out of taxpayer-funded legal aid to barristers in family court cases have gone up by almost a third in five years and have now reached nearly £100million a year, they showed. And there have been big increases in claims by barristers for obscure special payments that provide 'uplift' and 'bolt-ons' to their basic charges.

Daily Mail

19 Jun

Law Society faces £65m bill to fund pension deficit

THE LAW Society must plough at least £40m into its closed final salary pension scheme in a bid to reduce its massive deficit. The society, which is funded almost entirely by fees collected from solicitors, has paid £67m into the scheme since 2005 but trustees have indicated that a further £40m is required to account for the £71.8m defecit. Law Society chief executive Des Hudson said: "The demand is said to be informal as it has not yet been agreed where and how the payments will be made. "Also, we expect that what needs to be paid in will be substantially higher - around £60m to £65m. "We want to make sure the scheme is properly funded and to do that we need to strike the right balance for what is right for the pension members and the interests of the people who in fact foot the bill - solicitors." (Gonna have to steal a bit harder. UJ)

The Lawyer

15 Jun

Law firms rake in £700m in fees for coal miners’ claims

Legal fees for firms advising on the ongoing compensation claims for sick coal miners have hit more than £700m. Figures released on Hansard reveal that fees for the work reached £735m by mid-April, with Thompsons Solicitors and Beresfords Solicitors taking the biggest individual shares. Thompsons is the most significant biller to date, raking in £141.8m for its work, while Beresfords Solicitors billed £140.7m. Cardiff firm Hugh James takes third place, accounting for a total of £104.6m. The fees were detailed in a written response by Lord Bach, a Government justice spokesman, on 24 April to questions raised by Lord Lofthouse of Pontefract. They show the fees received by the 10 largest billing firms to that date for work on the Government-backed compensation scheme for sick miners who are suffering from lung disease or vibration white finger. In addition to the firm-specific totals, Beresfords’ limited liability partnership (LLP) accounts filed with Companies House last month for the year ending September 2006 show that the firm’s head, Jim Beresford, saw his share of the firm’s annual profits total £27.5m between 2004-06.

Legal Week

12 Jun

World’s biggest injury payout leaves miners outraged

It was never supposed to turn out like this. In 1998 the High Court found British Coal negligent in respect of two mining-related conditions, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and vibration white finger. What followed this ruling would develop, at a cost of £7.5 billion, into the largest personal injury compensation scheme in the world. Officials at the Department of Trade and Industry, which was responsible for the liabilities of the former British Coal, were woefully unprepared. They expected 218,000 claims; the final total was 760,000. They had not even realised that a miner’s entitlement to compensation could be passed to his estate...It took until 2005 before a fast-track scheme to speed up the process was introduced. By then thousands of claimants had died. In coalfield communities anger at the slow pace was joined by outrage when it became clear that the big winners were not going to be the miners, but their solicitors.

Times Online

10 Jun

SOCA - UK Threat Assessment

The UK Threat Assessment of Serious Organised Crime 2008/9 describes and assesses the threats posed to the UK by serious organised criminals. The assessment is drawn from a fuller, restricted version which is produced annually for law enforcement and wider government use. SOCA Director General Bill Hughes said: "The UK Threat Assessment describes the complex picture of criminal activity that harms the UK and guides the law enforcement response to those threats."..."...There has been an increase in the number of serious organised criminals involved in
mortgage fraud as a means to generate and to launder criminal funds and, in some cases, to
acquire property to commit criminal activity. Corrupt or negligent professionals (solicitors,
conveyancers, valuers, estate agents and mortgage brokers) are used to support false
identities, over-value properties, hijack genuine conveyancing processes or change the title
deeds, via the Land Registry, to allow the sale of properties without the owner’s knowledge." Download the full report in PDF format from SOCA, link on right.

SOCA

10 Jun

The threat to the UK from Serious Organised Crime

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) has today published an unrestricted version of the UK Threat Assessment of Serious Organised Crime 2008/9. The document describes and assesses the threats posed to the UK by serious organised criminals. The assessment is drawn from a fuller, restricted version which is produced annually for law enforcement and wider government use.

e-Gov Monitor

10 Jun

Lawyer hid camera in ladies' loo

A solicitor has admitted hiding a video camera inside a ladies' toilet cubicle and secretly filming female staff. Stirling Sheriff Court heard that Peter Fitzpatrick, 49, put the device into a cardboard box within the cubicle at law firm Muirhead Buchanan in Stirling. The father-of-two, who has been a solicitor for 27 years, was caught after a secretary noticed a hole in the box was pointing at the pedestal. Fitzpatrick, of Rutherglen, is due to be sentenced next month.

BBC

09 Jun

Miners' compensation gifts firms another £174m

The leading law firms involved in handling the British Coal compensation claims pulled in £174.3m in the last year, despite the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) continuing its investigations into several firms for misconduct. Doncaster-based three-partner personal injury boutique Beresfords topped the breadwinners' list after bringing in £43.3m, according to figures derived from a written answer by Labour peer Lord Bach. Thompsons Solicitors were second on £27.1m, followed by Cardiff-based Hugh James on £24m. One SRA insider said law firms reaping such huge sums of money on the back of miners suffering conditions such as respiratory disease and vibration white finger projected the wrong image of the legal profession.

The Lawyer

09 Jun

Solicitor Jim Beresford makes £30m from sick miners' compensation scheme

A solicitor who specialises in claiming compensation for sick coalminers has banked a personal profit of more than £30 million from the government-funded scheme. Jim Beresford is the head of a three-partner firm of Doncaster solicitors, Beresfords, which has been paid more than £140 million from the public purse for its work on coal miner health claims. New figures reveal that between 2004 and 2006 Mr Beresford's share of the firm's annual profits was £27.5 million - in a two-year period during which he grew richer by more than £37,000 per day...According to government figures last year, the average legal fees paid to Beresfords for its work on each settled claim was £2,264, only £25 less than the average compensation awarded to each of its clients of £2,289...A stately home and a racehorse also feature among the benefits mined by Beresfords' three partners from the lucrative seam created by elderly and dying pit workers. More than 69 per cent of lung disease claimants received less in compensation than it cost the Government to administer their claim. Tens of thousands of miners were awarded less than £1,000. The smallest award was 50p. More than 19,000 claimants died before they received anything.

Times Online

09 Jun

Abu Hamza's Muslim lawyer earns £1m a year in legal aid from representing terror suspects

A lawyer who represents high-profile terror suspects was paid nearly £1million in legal aid in just 12 months. Official figures show that taxpayers have handed Mudassar Arani's firm £3.5million to defend extremist suspects over recent years. The Ugandan-born solicitor tells Muslims never to talk to police and warns that those who speak out against Islamic terrorists 'are playing into the hands of the Government'. Her clients include hate cleric Abu Hamza, dirty bomb plotter Dhiren Barot and three of the 21/7 attackers. Miss Arani, 44, is being investigated by Scotland Yard after she was accused in court of trying to bribe another defendant in the 21/7 trial to change his alibi.

Daily Mail

09 Jun

Convicted pedophile JP jailed

A magistrate from Croydon known as "The Zoo Man" who trawled the internet for images of children being sexually abused was today jailed for nine months. Zoologist Terry Mills, 58, spent his days visiting primary schools showing children exotic reptiles and his evenings building up a library of child pornography. He watched a film entitled "German Blondie" and received emails marked "British Boys" and "Busy at Both Ends", Southwark Crown Court heard.

Croydon Guardian

09 Jun

Crooked solicitor spent client money on 'a Rolex, loose women and drink'

Three crooked members of a family law firm who lived a life of luxury on £840,000 of clients' cash have been thrown out of the profession. Imran, Saira and Shamim Karim were described as "dangerous to the profession and the public" after they kept money from property deals. Senior partner Imran Karim, 40, boasted five cars including a Ferrari 335 Belinetta and a north London flat, all paid for by clients of Karim and Co.

Croydon Guardian

09 Jun

FSA petitions High Court to close UKLI

The FSA has approached the High Court to shut down the UK's largest landbanking company, UKLI, claiming it has operated as "an illegal collective investment scheme" and denied "investors protection for their money". The watchdog first presented a petition to wind up the Mayfair-based company on 1 April. This was then heard by the London Companies Court at the end of May. The regulator has so far obtained an interim freezing and restraining order against the firm, to protect its assets for creditors, including investors, and to prevent it from continuing to operate as an illegal investment scheme.

Financial Times

09 Jun

Cases of suspected mortgage fraud 'set to rise'

Hundreds of solicitors may be on the verge of being investigated as mortgage fraud increases, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has claimed. There were 85 cases of suspected mortgage fraud in 2004, increasing to 105 in 2005, 215 in 2006 and 293 in 2007, according to the authority's figures. It added that some solicitors are failing to warn lenders about suspicious transactions. According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the secret discounting of sale prices on newbuild properties is a cause for concern, particularly because the sale price before discounts is then registered with Land Registry which could skew property values.

Financial Times

09 Jun

Law Society faces fine for poor complaints system

The Law Society, the professional trade body for all solicitors in England and Wales, has been hit with a £275,000 fine for its complaints-handling system, its second such fine in two years. Zahida Manzoor, the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner, yesterday criticised as “inadequate” the Law Society's complaints-handling plan for the current financial year, which ends in March next year. The Law Society, a self-regulatory body, paid a £220,000 fine for its 2006-07 complaints plan, which the Commissioner also declared sub-standard. More than ten thousand complaints about solicitors are made to the Law Society each year. It passes those complaints made by members of the public to the Legal Services Complaints Board (LCS) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Both these bodies report to the Law Society.

Times Online

09 Jun

Specialist Appointment for McCormicks

HARROGATE law firm McCormicks is one of the first UK firms to be appointed to the new Very High Cost Cases Panel. The VHCC panel of the Specialist Fraud Panel was launched in January to cover cases expected to last more than three months and/or where costs are likely to be high. by the Legal Services Commission. McCormicks has joined an exclusive group of firms authorised by the Legal Services Commission to conduct the most substantial and complex fraud and other major criminal cases with public funding. This is a third coup for McCormicks which was one of the first firms nationally to receive a Legal Aid Franchise and then to be appointed to the Serious Fraud Panel, which later became the Specialist Fraud Panel.

Harrogate Advisor

03 Jun

Barclays And RBS Raided By Antitrust Regulators

In a move which has again put the banking sector in the headlines for all of the wrong reasons it has been announced that both Barclays Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland were raided by the UK Antitrust regulators twelve days ago. While it has been confirmed that the raids were in connection with the alleged price fixing of loans to various accountants, lawyers and an array of other professional services, little more information has been released.

Financial Advice

03 Jun

How Britain's middle class was betrayed

Britain's professionals are worried. Their careers and living standards are under threat. Lawyers, doctors, bank managers and postmasters face an uncertain future as faceless corporations take over their work. In the second of three extracts from their new book, Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson reveal how a wealthy elite rewrote all the rules - and conned the middle class

Guardian

03 Jun

Fraud losses of £15m pulled B&B into the red

Bradford & Bingley would have remained profitable in the first four months of the year, despite its rising levels of bad debt and additional writedowns on structured finance investments, had it not been for a £15m provision relating to mortgage fraud losses, the detail of its trading update revealed yesterday. The beleaguered mortgage bank warned it stood to lose £15m "relating to a small number of organised mortgage frauds". B&B has been targeted by criminals offering bribes to corrupt surveyors, and the bank vowed to step up its "management of panel valuers" in an attempt to prevent further fraud...The definition of mortgage fraud covers a wide range of offences but regulators are particularly concerned about the way in which corrupt surveyors, solicitors and other agents have been facilitating two increasingly common deceptions in the new-build sector of the property market, which has been a particular focus for the buy-to-let investors in which B&B specialises.

Independent

03 Jun

Compensation costs councils almost £9m

No win, no fee legal firms have forced councils to pay out almost £9million in compensation in the last three years, the Echo can reveal. New figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that Sunderland City Council paid out £4,761,750 in compensation claims between 2005 and the end of 2007, while Durham County Council paid £4,081,460 in the same period.

Sunderland Echo

02 Jun