Decision record
ROHAN GEORGE SKEA
Allegation / charges
Unsatisfactory Conduct and Suspended and Struck Off the Roll of Practitioners
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Rohan George Skea, a legal practitioner, pleaded guilty to 37 counts of fraud and was sentenced to six years imprisonment. The Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee brought a reference alleging unsatisfactory conduct. Skea admitted the illegal/unsatisfactory conduct and accepted that striking off was inevitable. The State Administrative Tribunal found him guilty of unsatisfactory conduct but, lacking power to strike off, transmitted a report to the Supreme Court (full bench) under s 185(2)(a) recommending removal from the Roll. It suspended him from practice pending the Court's determination and ordered him to pay $1000 costs.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- 37 counts of fraud over an extended period (Dec 2000 - Feb 2004)
- Large sums obtained (individual counts included $891,000, $220,000, $566,500)
- Six-year term of imprisonment imposed
- Conduct brought shame on and damaged the reputation of the legal profession
Mitigating factors:
- Plea of guilty to the criminal charges
- Admission of unsatisfactory conduct before the Tribunal
- Expression of profound regret and apology