Farrukh Abbas

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

Mr Abbas, a solicitor, was involved in a fabricated personal injury claim arising from a road traffic accident. Although his car was involved, it was driven by his uninsured colleague Mr Anjum and Mr Abbas was not present; nonetheless Mr Abbas allowed a claim to be submitted falsely stating he was the driver and had suffered injuries, signed a witness statement with a false statement of truth, provided false instructions to a medical expert, and attended medical and physiotherapy appointments feigning symptoms over about 9 months before discontinuing. He admitted all three allegations including dishonesty and breaches of Principles 2 and 6. The Tribunal found the allegations proved, made an express finding of dishonesty under the Ivey test, found some element of joint venture with Mr Anjum but that this did not displace Mr Abbas's high culpability, and found no exceptional circumstances. He was struck off the Roll. Given his limited means, no order for costs was made (the Applicant had claimed £23,925).

Duties found breached:

• Proper basis for allegations

Aggravating factors:

• Dishonesty
• Financial motivation for personal gain
• Misconduct continued over a 9-month period (not momentary)
• Actively pursued the false claim including attending medical examination and physiotherapy feigning injuries
• Abused the trust placed in him by the Firm
• Conduct capable of amounting to a criminal offence
• Sought to play down seriousness and advocated no disciplinary action, showing limited insight

Mitigating factors:

• Previously unblemished disciplinary record
• Full admissions at hearing and early (though guarded) admissions
• Remorse and apology
• Difficult personal circumstances at the material time (wife's difficult pregnancy, new baby, financial hardship, sleep deprivation)
• Element of joint venture / unhealthy influence exerted by Mr Anjum
• Stopped the misconduct of his own accord
• No financial gain ultimately obtained and no damages paid out