Bhaskar Subramaniam - J

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

Bhaskar Subramaniam, a partner at Stafford Solicitors, acted in eleven conveyancing transactions for connected clients (Mr K and Mr L, directors of PB (UK) Ltd/PF) that bore clear hallmarks of mortgage fraud, including direct deposit payments, altered purchase prices and sub-sales, and failed to disclose these material facts to lender clients causing substantial losses. He signed misleading Certificates of Title, allowed a client account shortage of £34,199.26 to persist for around four years, failed to pay indemnity premiums and failed to provide insurance details to a lender. The Tribunal found dishonesty proved on allegations 1.1 and 1.2 (but not 1.3, which failed the objective test), and found allegations 1.1,1.2,1.3,1.5,1.6 proved (1.4 not proved). Finding no exceptional circumstances under SRA v Sharma, the Tribunal struck him off the Roll and ordered costs of £27,000. His subsequent High Court appeal was dismissed with costs of £9,598.

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations
• Not mislead third parties or opponents
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Professional indemnity insurance

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty found in two allegations
• Substantial loss suffered by lender clients
• Respondent must have known lenders would have refused to lend had they known the facts
• Signed misleading and/or fake Certificates of Title
• Provided false/amended documents/ledgers to solicitors acting for the Assigned Risks Pool
• Breach of trust of lender clients and bringing profession into disrepute
• Cash shortage remained on client account for approximately four years

Mitigating factors:

• Respondent had been fairly open and cooperative with the investigator
• Accepted overall responsibility despite day-to-day conduct being with others
• Made efforts to reduce the client account shortage by borrowing from family and friends
• No previous disciplinary findings