Basharat Ali Ditta

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

The Respondent, a criminal solicitor, was convicted of possession of cocaine and of two counts of doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice, for which he received 3 years' imprisonment. The Tribunal found breaches of Principles 1, 2 and 6 proved on the criminal standard. His late adjournment application (pending a criminal appeal) was refused after the SRA gave an undertaking to support setting aside the Order should the convictions be quashed. The Tribunal found lack of integrity (no express finding of dishonesty) and ordered him struck off, with costs of £5,200.

Duties found breached:

• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct was deliberate
• Repeated offences of possessing cocaine
• Two separate instances of perverting the course of justice
• Gross abuse of trusted and privileged position as a solicitor
• Respondent knew or ought to have known the conduct breached his obligations to protect the public and profession

Mitigating factors:

• Previous good character/record