Gurmit Singh Randhawa

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

The respondent, admitted in 1985, was convicted at Cardiff Crown Court on 6 January 1997 of three counts of conspiracy to defraud and one count of theft, arising from his role as solicitor in mortgage/re-mortgage transactions where he turned a blind eye to misrepresentations and deceit causing lenders to advance money on a false basis, and stole monies from his client account. He received suspended custodial sentences and criminal fines. The Tribunal found both allegations substantiated, noting the convictions involved dishonesty committed during practice, and ordered him struck off the Roll plus fixed costs. The respondent did not appear; his adjournment request was refused.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Honesty

Aggravating factors:

• Convicted of offences involving dishonesty committed during the course of practice as a solicitor
• Theft of monies from client account - most serious form of dishonesty a solicitor can perpetrate
• Serious breach of trust placed in him by lenders
• Offences crossed the custody threshold
• Committed breaches deliberately out of desire to retain clients and extend personal influence
• Severe damage to reputation of the solicitors' profession