The Sheffield Crown Court has found a trio of lawyers from Chambers Solicitors in Bradford guilty of conspiracy to defraud. Chambers Solicitors managing partner Mohammed Ayub (55), his brother Mohammed Riaz (48) and Chambers immigration supervisors Neil Frew (48) were all found guilty via a 10-2 majority and will be sentenced next year. All three men were granted bail by Judge Robert Spragg.
Sham company
The court heard that the three lawyers founded a sham company called Legal Support Services (LSS) after securing a contract for immigrations-related work from the Legal Aid Agency in October 2010. Between that time and October 2014, the trio reportedly used LSS to claim inflated disbursements from the LAA for immigration and asylum contract work awarded to Chambers Solicitors. Meanwhile, LSS was a virtually invisible company, with no registration at Companies House, no recorded tax payments, and no VAT or utility bills. Its registered address was less than 20 yards from Chambers’ own offices in Grattan Road.
Sources: Law Gazette; Australasian Lawyer
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