An immigration partner who kept up the pretence of an ongoing visa application for more than a year has been struck off. Ahmed Ajina, who worked for London firm Seddons Law, knew that his client’s application had been unsuccessful from December 2019 onwards but told his supervising partner months later that it was on ‘hold indefinitely’ due to the Covid pandemic.
In October 2020, he then told the client that the business plan, the first step in a two-stage process to acquire UK residency, had been successful, in the full knowledge that was not correct.
As late as February 2021, he drafted and provided misleading wording for his supervisor to update the client with the progress of his application, despite the fact it had already been rejected.
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said Ajina’s conduct showed a ‘pattern of concealing material facts’ and he had deliberately delayed giving the true picture for more than 16 months.
The tribunal added: ‘[His] conduct, particularly in concealing information and providing false information to his managing partner and client in respect of the progress of that client’s application, involved a significant abuse of trust.’
Ajina, 37, had been with Seddons since 2016 and became a partner in 2019. He had self-reported his conduct in March 2021 to his supervising partner and his firm suspended him and contacted the Solicitors Regulation Authority. He did not take part in proceedings except to apply for an adjournment for health reasons. The tribunal said there was no evidence presented to support this and the hearing went ahead without him involved.
As well as his conduct involving the visa application client, it was found he had also instructed a paralegal at the firm to provide another client with misleading information. Ajina attempted to suggest in January 2021 the firm had only recently received an email from the Home Office, when in fact it had received the email two months earlier but had not acted on it.
In a separate charge, he was found to have amended a client agreement being submitted to the Home Office to make it seem like it was made in 2017 and not 2020. The tribunal said this showed he abused the trust placed in him and was dishonest.
Ajina, admitted in 2014, offered no mitigation and was struck off. He was also ordered to pay £39,600 in costs and VAT of almost £8,000. The tribunal revealed that he is currently a partner in a non-UK firm.
