A solicitor who gave a misleading statement about a client’s £1m investment has been ordered to pay £40,000 in fines and costs by a tribunal.
Asiya Kaleem, then head of civil litigation at Sheffield firm Alison Law, had signed a declaration stating that her client had received the investment and the money was deposited in the client account.
The declaration was required to secure a £1m loan through the UK government’s Future Fund scheme, with applicants needing to show that a third party investor would match the funding.
But due diligence on the loan application found the firm did not hold such funds from the investor and the matter was reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Kaleem, admitted in 2016, told investigators she had discussed the matter with her supervisor and received his assurance that she could sign the declaration. He had maintained that the relevant £1m had been invested four years earlier and so she could give the guarantee.
The tribunal heard that this supervisor, the firm’s owner Habibur Rahman, had explained there had been a misunderstanding on the firm’s part as it believed the earlier investment was sufficient. He further said the firm was ‘confused’ about the Future Fund rules but accepted they should have been checked.
Kaleem reiterated that, as far as she was concerned, this was a misunderstanding between the parties regarding the initial 2017 investment, which was swiftly rectified and resolved without any impact on the client, investor, FF or public funds. As such she did not report the incident to the SRA in her role as compliance officer as she did not believe it was a serious breach.
The tribunal accepted that Kaleem had not acted recklessly or dishonestly but found she ought to have known the words in the declaration were not accurate. Harm was entirely unintentional but her conduct amounted to a breach of trust in her position as a solicitor.
She was ordered to pay a £15,001 fine and £25,000 costs, with conditions on her practising certificate for two years.
