A former firm owner whose firm invoiced for stamp duty and then kept hold of the money has been fined £20,000.

Mohit Chopra, sole equity partner with defunct London firm Miramar Legal, had signed the invoice for more than £3,000 to cover stamp duty and the land registration fee after the firm acted on a property purchase in 2013.

The client ledger showed that the money was transferred from the client account to the office account before completion. Five years later when the client sought to sell the property, it emerged that neither the stamp duty nor Land Registry fees had been paid. Chopra arranged for payment of the outstanding items and replaced the remaining cash shortage on the client account.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal heard that, over six years, the firm made overpayments on 18 client matters, for amounts varying from 25p to £1,141, from the client account. These were not paid back in some cases for several years and investigators found debit balances worth £4,439 as of September 2018 (these were rectified by Chopra).

Chopra, admitted in 2008, submitted a ‘slow moving matters report’ to the SRA's team, listing over 1,700 matters that had not moved for at least a year. Officers noted there were 199 balances as of August 2020 that were the same as they had been 21 months earlier, breaching the SRA rule that client money must be returned as soon as there is no longer a proper reason to hold it.

Chopra admitted that he was liable for the shortage on the client account. He also admitted to being aware of breaches of accounts rules but failing to rectify them in a timely manner. In mitigation he pointed out that all shortages were made good on discovery.

The SRA and Chopra agreed to a £20,000 fine, which the SDT rubber-stamped. Chopra must also pay £15,735 costs and may not own any other firm or hold client money.

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