Solicitor struck off for 'misusing clients' cash

Boma Ellis-Dokubo, formerly, of Beevers Solicitors in Ashton-Under-Lyne, has been struck off the roll by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) after it found against him on five counts of dishonesty.

The tribunal found nine allegations against Ellis-Dokubo proven, including failing to act in the best interest of clients, transferring money from the client account to the office account without sending a bill of costs or other written notification to the client, retaining client monies without proper reason, making statements which he knew to be untrue, and failing to notify the SRA that Beevers was in serious financial difficulty.

Beevers Solicitors was closed down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in December 2012 when misconduct was discovered. The SRA brought the prosecutions against Ellis-Dokubo and his partner Karibo Lawson.

Ellis-Dokubo was not present at the tribunal due to ill health. Through a representative, he admitted the allegations, but denied acting dishonestly. The tribunal said it would have struck him off without the dishonesty allegations as there were serious breaches of rules which were deliberate and which took place over a considerable period of time.

As well as striking off Ellis-Dokubo, the former solicitor was ordered to pay costs of £25,000. In the same hearing, Lawson admitted to seven similar allegations against him. He was suspended for two years and ordered to pay costs of £4,000.

The tribunal said that though Lawson co-operated with the SRA at the hearing, and was not involved with the dishonesty, he should have reported wrong-doings to the SRA when he became aware of them in the mid-2000s.

SRA director of legal enforcement, Gordon Ramsay, said: "Solicitors are placed in a position of trust. The Principles we expect them to abide by state they must act with integrity and maintain that trust that the public puts in them. Specifically, that trust involves clients asking solicitors to handle their money. When solicitors abuse that trust and clients suffer financial loss, we will look for severe sanctions."

He continued: "Mr Ellis-Dokubo used client monies without permission and for purposes that are simply not allowed, so we welcome the tribunal's decision. And as a partner in the firm, Mr Lawson had the opportunity to report the wrongdoings. We are pleased to note the tribunal's findings in that regard."

To date, the SRA has paid clients, who are still owed money by Beevers, grants totalling £137,372.74 from the Compensation Fund, with more applications pending.