Iraq lawyer’s deals to hide home and guitars
Disgraced Phil Shiner, who led witch hunt against troops, transferred assets to avoid paying £7m debts
THE disgraced lawyer who led the witch hunt against Iraq war veterans hid assets including property and guitars to avoid paying his £7 million debts.
Phil Shiner, who has already been struck off for dishonesty, spent six months transferring properties, limited-edition guitars and artwork before finally declaring himself bankrupt.
Shiner, 61, was paid millions by the taxpayer, through legal aid and in court costs, to bring thousands of cases, many of them bogus, against British troops for alleged abuse, including claims of unlawful killing of Iraqis.
But he declared himself bankrupt in March 2017 after being struck off for dishonesty over false claims made against soldiers.
Now the Insolvency Service (IS) has uncovered a series of financial deals struck by Shiner before he went bust to avoid paying his huge debts. It has extended his bankruptcy to six years following his “unacceptable behaviour”.
The IS discovered a trail that included transferring ownership of his £300,000 house and two guitars he valued at £3,500 to a family trust in Dec 2016. The terms of the trust allowed him to live in the property. He also sold two commercial buildings for £550,000, transferring the money to his now defunct law firm Public Interest Lawyers. According to the IS, he then took at least £170,000 out of the firm to top up his pension by almost £95,000, adding the rest to a family trust.
Justin Dionne, official receiver from the Insolvency Service, said: “Mr Shiner thought he could be clever by giving away his assets to his family so that when he declared himself bankrupt there wasn’t anything to pay with.
“Sadly he was mistaken as all his activities were easily spotted and we have since been able to recover a substantial amount of money, even if it was in his family’s name. Mr Shiner’s activities should serve as a lesson and act as a deterrent.”
The IS has recovered £483,538 but revealed that Shiner’s outstanding debts stand at just under £6.5 million.
Shiner brought more than 3,000 criminal complaints against British troops in the aftermath of the Iraq war.
The allegations led to the Government setting up the Iraq Historic Allegations team (Ihat) which was finally shut down last year following a public outcry.
Ministers are now under pressure to close the Iraq Fatality Investigations (IFI) unit, which is examining suspicious deaths from 15 years ago.
Johnny Mercer, a Conservative MP and former Army captain who has campaigned against the “witch hunt” of troops, said: “I have always thought of Phil Shiner as a modern day traitor. It is as a result of people like Shiner’s misguided and sometimes deliberately dishonest efforts that this ridiculous process continues some 15 years on. The Defence Secretary must shut IFI down.”
Major Robert Campbell, who is facing an eighth inquiry over the death of an Iraqi who drowned in 2003 in a case in which Shiner was involved, said: “The MOD was very generous to Phil Shiner who concocted stories against British soldiers. But when it came to legal assistance for soliders like me they have split hairs.”
When Shiner applied for bankruptcy last year, a Telegraph investigation disclosed how he had sold one of his homes to his daughters a few weeks earlier.
Public Interest Lawyers, of which Shiner was sole director, folded in Aug 2016 after the Legal Aid Agency cut off its funding. Shiner was then investigated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and struck off. He owes £500,000 in costs to the legal watchdog.
‘Mr Shiner thought he could be clever by giving away his assets. Sadly he was mistaken’