Ahtiq Raja

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

Barrister Ahtiq Raja admitted a single charge of professional misconduct (CD5/rC8) arising from his 2019 Crown Court conviction for theft, having dishonestly retained a £238,787.50 gift aid overpayment mistakenly made by HMRC to his charity. Though he ultimately repaid the money and did not personally benefit, the Tribunal found the dishonesty calculated and sustained. Falling in Misconduct Group A with significant culpability and harm, the indicative sanction was disbarment. Despite compelling personal mitigation (a severely disabled son and difficult family circumstances) and one exceptional feature (no personal benefit), the Tribunal found these did not outweigh the gravity, and disbarred him. Practising certificate suspended from 3 December 2022 with an immediate condition barring new instructions; costs of £1,560 ordered.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper benefit, loan or bequest

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct persisted over a period of time (July 2016 to January 2018)
• Dishonesty was calculated and involved a degree of sophistication and planning
• Deed of trust prepared appeared to be a smokescreen
• Intentional conduct
• Attempt to lay blame on HMRC employee (Mr Johnson)
• Act of dishonesty committed in breach of trust as trustee of the charity
• Significant harm to public confidence in the profession

Mitigating factors:

• Mr Raja did not personally benefit from the dishonesty (found to be exceptional)
• Money was ultimately repaid in full with no loss to HMRC
• Money was ringfenced/secured by property purchase rather than dissipated
• Transparency with conveyancing solicitors that property held on trust for HMRC
• Genuine remorse expressed
• Strong testimonials and important role in the community, mentoring disadvantaged/ethnic minority individuals
• Very difficult personal and family circumstances including a severely disabled son and former partner with health issues
• One-off incident