Tasmina fined £3,000 for professional misconduct
Reference from Bercow fails to save former SNP MP from censure
A FORMER Nationalist MP was fined £3,000 after being found guilty of professional misconduct yesterday despite a character reference from the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh was censured and ordered to pay the fine following her admission that she had failed to properly record financial accounts during her time as a solicitor at law firm Hamilton Burns.
The mother of four and her former colleague Alan Mickel, also known as Niall, were both found guilty of professional misconduct after a Law Society probe raised concerns about money being taken out of a trust fund for which they were signatories.
It found that the money was being used to shore up the struggling firm at which both Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh and Mr Mickel were partners – and which went out of business with ‘historic’ debt of £500,000.
The Law Society said that they showed ‘disregard for the rules’ when they failed to keep proper accounts of the trust, which was established in May 2012 in the name of Mr Mickel’s sister, Gill.
A Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal heard that then-director Mr Mickel and cash room partner Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh believed the trust was private.
But an error when setting up the fund meant that it was considered a client of the business – with the money held in Hamilton Burns’s client account.
Both admitted their failure to keep appropriate records had allowed this error to go unnoticed for three years – with Mr Mickel resigning in 2015 when this was identified. Grant Knight, fiscal for the Law Society, said: ‘They should have known better.’
Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh and Mr Mickel were each ordered to pay a fine of £3,000. They are also liable for the expenses of the Law Society and the tribunal.
During a brief hearing yesterday, Dorothy Bain, QC, representing the former MP, read out a character statement for Mrs AhmedSheikh, provided by Commons Speaker John Bercow.
He described her as ‘honest, diligent and trustworthy’. He also praised her work for women’s rights, saying she is someone of the ‘highest integrity’.
Miss Bain also stated that Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh plans to return to her legal career. She is currently a producer and presenter for Alex Salmond’s Russia Today show.
Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh resigned from Hamilton Burns after winning the seat for Ochil and South Perthshire in May 2015.
She lost the seat in the 2017 general election only weeks after the Scottish Daily Mail revealed the Law Society had launched a probe into her time as a solicitor regarding funds from a trust fund.
Both Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh and Mr Mickel initially faced charges of ‘financial impropriety’ but it was agreed this week that there was no suggestion of dishonesty or personal benefit.
Last night, Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh told the Daily Mail she was ‘delighted’ to have been cleared of financial impropriety and said she was planning to spend time with her family at home in Glasgow.
She added: ‘I am pleased that the tribunal has decided to impose the lower penalty of censure rather than striking off.
‘For my part I am more than satisfied that it is now accepted on all sides that there is no challenge to my personal integrity.’