Not fine to let solicitor work

RETURN Iqbal works at Leeds legal practice Solicitor Aurangzeb Iqbal has what might be called an interesting past. In 1998 he was banned from practising for six months by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal over “improper” use of client money.

In 2002 his company was shut down in the High Court and in 2004 he was struck off after breaking conditions which had allowed him to continue practising as a solicitor.

Although banned from running a legal practice, he had set up a company run by stooges while secretly being in control. A tribunal called it “a serious deception”.

His request to be re-admitted to the roll of solicitors was turned down in 2012.

Then in 2015 he was running The Hearing Clinic, which claimed it could win compensation for people with hearing loss caused by noise at work.

The business was fined £220,000 by the Claims Management Regulator for cold calling people who were listed with the Telephone Preference Service.

An appeal hearing in 2016 confirmed the fine, ruling that Iqbal’s behaviour had been “negligent and reckless” and saying “hundreds of people a month were being driven to complain”.

Now the Solicitors Regulation Authority has allowed the 56-year-old back inside a solicitor’s office, Bodnar & Co in Leeds, where he can work as a legal clerk on the condition he is supervised and does not have access to client accounts.

I’m all for giving people a second chance, but I’m not sure that he deserves one, for one simple reason.

That £220,000 fine remains unpaid.