Decision record
Kengai Ponnampalam Chetty
Allegation / charges
Breaches, Criminal Convictions
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Respondent, a sole practitioner solicitor, was convicted at Croydon Crown Court on 29 July 2011 of two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation (submitting false/misleading bills of costs against the Legal Aid fund) and sentenced to five years imprisonment. His application for permission to appeal was refused. The Tribunal, relying on the Certificate of Conviction under SDPR Rule 15(2), found the allegation of breaching Rules 1.02 and 1.06 SCC substantiated beyond reasonable doubt. The offences involved dishonesty. He was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £2,643.86. He did not attend the hearing (serving his sentence).
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation involving dishonesty against the Legal Aid fund (public purse)
- Sentenced to five years imprisonment
- Judge described conduct as 'breath-taking dishonesty and greed'
- Showed no remorse and continued to maintain innocence, blaming others
- Little regard for clients
Duties engaged
Other decisions involving this respondent
Matched by respondent name — may include a different person with the same name.