U Bajela, C Collison, S Tackie-Oblie, F Anafi

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Four solicitors of Collisons & Co were struck off. Bajela, an assistant solicitor, was convicted of theft and deception offences relating to ~£290,013 removed from client account in connection with his own property purchase, having obtained two mortgage advances (BOS and RBS) totalling over £1.5m on an £855,000 property and concealing the true position from lenders. Principals Collison and Tackie-Oblie failed to supervise, failed to remedy breaches and failed to report Bajela, and were found dishonest applying the Twinsectra test. Assistant Anafi signed a misleading certificate of title for RBS and failed to disclose/report, also found reckless and dishonest. All four struck off. Costs: Bajela £22,000; Collison, Tackie-Oblie and Anafi £15,000 each (total fixed at £66,000 plus £1,000 for Bajela's separate case).

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Honesty
• Act in the client's best interests
• Disclose material information to client
• Handle inadvertently received material
• No improper use of client money
• Supervise staff and delegated work
• Hold a current practising certificate
• Self-report to the regulator
• Report serious misconduct of others

Aggravating factors:

• Criminal convictions involving dishonesty (Bajela)
• Total of £290,013 removed from client account; over £330,000 left owing to BOS with no security
• Deliberate concealment of true facts from mortgage lenders BOS and RBS
• Respondents (Collison and Tackie-Oblie) closed their eyes to misconduct and delayed reporting
• Use of client funds to fund firm's own litigation
• Prolonged proceedings by denial of allegations

Mitigating factors:

• Collison: long legal career, well regarded, served as tribunal chairman, late admission of allegations, found himself in invidious position not of his making
• Collison: family responsibilities including young children, unemployed
• Tackie-Oblie: only recently qualified
• Anafi: former Ghanaian diplomat, qualified late in life, difficult personal circumstances, acted on instructions of principals, reported Bajela and remitted remaining funds to BOS after becoming partner

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=67000"]