Aminat Adedoyin Afolabi

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

Following remittal from the Administrative Court, the Tribunal re-heard allegation I (giving dishonest evidence to an Employment Tribunal) and found it NOT substantiated to the criminal standard, considering the ET Chairman's finding open to debate and the Respondent's silence not necessarily dishonest. Allegation M (criminal convictions for money laundering/acquiring criminal property under POCA, with two of four counts surviving appeal) was admitted and proved. No express finding of dishonesty was made by this Tribunal. Considering Bolton v Law Society and the seriousness of the offences (18-month sentence), the Tribunal struck the Respondent off the Roll. On costs, the original costs order (one third) from the 14 September 2010 Findings was reinstated; costs of the 9 December 2011 hearing (claimed £13,466.10) and one half of the 12 January 2012 hearing costs (claimed £11,456.40) were referred to detailed assessment if not agreed. A subsequent appeal was dismissed by the High Court ([2012] EWHC 3502 (Admin)).

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• AML and crime-prevention compliance

Aggravating factors:

• Respondent personally benefited considerably from the criminal transactions (£15,000 and approx £44,000)
• 18-month custodial sentence imposed for serious criminal offences
• Respondent was found to be 'behind it all' and in control of the firm

Mitigating factors:

• Criminal convictions did not relate directly to her conduct as a solicitor
• Sentence already served and assets subject to confiscation order
• Previously of good character with no previous convictions
• Involvement of Mr H in running the firm

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["review_dishonesty_finding_cue_present"]