Sarfraz Sadiq

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

The Respondent, a non-solicitor employed as a paralegal and bookkeeper at Injury Specialists Solicitors Ltd, dishonestly misappropriated £74,654.53 from his employer by cashing intercepted and duplicate office cheques through a cheque cashing agent in Luton and concealing the transactions in the accounts. He was dismissed for theft in October 2010. He did not attend the hearing. The Tribunal, applying the Twinsectra test, found he had acted dishonestly and had misappropriated the money. It made an order under section 43(2) of the Solicitors Act 1974 restricting his employment in the profession and ordered him to pay costs of £13,951.43, subject to detailed assessment if not agreed.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Amount misappropriated totalled £74,654.53
• Conduct sustained over a period of four to five months
• Deliberate concealment via cheque cashing agents and failure to enter duplicate payments in ledgers
• Abuse of his position as bookkeeper/accounts assistant
• Serious damage to reputation of the profession
• Failure to engage with or attend the Tribunal

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary matters
• Admitted cashing the cheques and repaid £2,680 at an early stage