Gboyega Ajibola Okunniga

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

Mr Okunniga, a consultant solicitor at Clifton Law Ltd, faced four allegations arising from findings by District Judge Gilmore in Coventry County Court. The Tribunal found Allegations 1-3 proved with dishonesty: (1) misleading the court by fabricating a merger between his consultancy (Company X) and Company A to explain nine client payments into his personal accounts owed to the Firm; (2) issuing four unauthorised invoices to Mr and Mrs A for fees not owed to the Firm and demanding payment; and (3) sending two misleading letters on the Firm's letterhead falsely holding himself out as 'Head of International Trade and Arbitration' in gold-transfer matters. Allegation 4 (misleading the court about beneficial ownership of Property A via an allegedly sham Trust Deed) was found not proved, as the Tribunal lacked the underlying evidence and legal submissions available to the District Judge and accepted his explanations on the balance of probabilities. Finding no exceptional circumstances under Sharma, the Tribunal struck him off and ordered £10,000 costs (reduced from £59,154.66 sought due to limited means).

Duties found breached:

• Not mislead the court
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act in the client's best interests
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Calculated, knowingly dishonest actions repeated over a period of time
• Attempted to place blame on the Firm's principal, Mrs Onwuka
• Conduct in pursuit of personal gain
• Caused harm to the Firm, its principal and clients Mr and Mrs A
• Lack of insight into the nature or effect of his misconduct
• Found to be an unreliable witness

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings
• Character references of good character
• Provider of free legal services to his community / voluntary work