Conveyancer referred to tribunal after £1.2m goes missing from client account

An East London solicitor has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal after more than a million pounds went missing from a client account.

Ejaz Ahmad’s firm, LG Law Chambers, was closed after an intervention by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in November 2015 and Ahmad’s practising certificate was suspended with immediate effect.

Following an SRA hearing in February, the regulator announced this week that it will prosecute the case before the SDT.

The case has been listed for a hearing on Monday 8 January 2018 after a case management hearing yesterday (6 September).

The SRA alleges that Ahmad allowed improper payments to the sum of £1,203,276.66 to be made from the client account and failed to remedy the shortage.

The regulator says Ahmad also failed to redeem six charges over five properties and had not kept properly written up accounting records.

According to the SRA, Ahmad was acting as a sole practitioner without proper authorisation and his business did not have a registered COLP or COFA in place.

The regulator accused Ahmad of failing to disclose relevant information and accounting records relating to the case and of giving false or misleading information to an SRA officer.

The allegations have not been proven and will be subject to the SDT hearing early next year.

Hannah Gannagé-Stewart, reporter

hannah.gannage-stewart@solicitorsjournal.co.uk