Decision record
Allan Ntata
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Allan Ntata, an unregistered barrister, admitted three charges: Malawian convictions for possession of 38.1g of Indian Hemp and attempting to export it without a licence (Charge 1), and failing to report to the BSB either the charge (Charge 2) or the conviction (Charge 3). The Tribunal could not go behind the conclusive proof of conviction under rE169.1. For Charge 1 (middle range, Category E) he was suspended for 3 months. For Charges 2 and 3 (lower range, Category L) he received advice as to future conduct and a reprimand. No dishonesty was found. He was ordered to pay £250 costs in five monthly instalments.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Failure to report conviction promptly to the Regulator (noted for Charge 1 but care taken to avoid double-counting)
Mitigating factors:
- One-off, out-of-character incident with no repeat
- Previously of good character with no other regulatory breaches
- Admitted the offences and the BSB charges and cooperated with the BSB
- Showed remorse/regret
- Supportive character references
- Malawian fines already paid; no custodial sentence
- Failure to report was inadvertent rather than deliberate
- Context of anti-corruption activism in Malawi and being a political target
- Short period of non-reporting; no public put at risk; no element of gain
Panel
Mr John Vaughan; Ms Sirah Abraham; Mr John Lloyd-Jones KC (Chair)
Duties engaged
Documents
Source: https://www.tbtas.org.uk/hearings/findings-and-sentences-of-past-hearings/