Former human rights lawyer Phil Shiner has been charged with fraud over claims made against soldiers fighting in Iraq, the National Crime Agency (NCA) announced today.

The 65-year-old, whose firm Public Interest Lawyers brought cases against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on behalf of Iraqi civilians, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

An NCA spokesperson said Shiner, from Birmingham, faces charges ‘in respect of fraud offences relating to legal aid claims made in 2007 and information provided to the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2015’.

Phil shiner

Shiner is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday

Source: REX Shutterstock

Shiner faces three counts in relation to claims following the alleged killings of Iraqi civilians by British army personnel at the so-called ‘Battle of Danny Boy’ in May 2004, according to court records.

One of those who died was 19-year-old Hamid al-Sweady, whose uncle Khuder al-Sweady alleged his nephew had been unlawfully killed by British soldiers.

Shiner is charged with failing to disclose to the Legal Aid Agency between 18 and 20 September 2007 that he had been ‘engaging in cold calling and the payment of referral fees’ when he made a legal aid application in relation to Khuder al-Sweady’s judicial review against the MoD over its decision not to hold an independent inquiry.

He is also charged with, between 11 and 13 October 2007, failing to disclose to the LAA that a statement provided alongside a letter challenging the decision to refuse legal aid funding application ‘had been obtained through cold calling’.

Shiner also faces one count of fraud by false representation for allegedly providing an ‘untrue and misleading’ response to a question from the Solicitors Regulation Authority in April 2015, in relation to ‘the cold calling of clients in Iraq in relation to alleged killings of Iraqi civilians by British Army personnel at the “Battle of Danny Boy”’.