Ahtiq Raja

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

Mr Ahtiq Raja, a barrister and sole director/shareholder of a company, was convicted of theft by a Crown Court jury after retaining money paid in error by HMRC (which company documents stated was held for HMRC) despite repeated requests for repayment during summer 2016; he repaid it only after being charged. He accepted the single charge of professional misconduct contrary to Core Duty 5 and/or rC8. The Panel found the dishonesty was calculated and involved a degree of sophistication and planning, with both culpability and harm assessed as significant. Despite very sad personal circumstances, no exceptional circumstances existed to avoid disbarment, and he was disbarred. The BSB applied for costs of £1,560.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty was calculated and involved a degree of sophistication and planning
• Conviction for theft
• Money repaid only after being charged

Mitigating factors:

• Very sad personal circumstances - 6 children with former wife
• Acceptance of the facts and that they amounted to misconduct
• Eventual repayment of the money