Flora Magadaline Mendes

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

The Respondent was convicted on four counts of providing immigration advice/services while not a qualified person, contrary to Sections 84 and 91(1) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Her appeal against conviction was dismissed. The Tribunal, proceeding in her absence after refusing an adjournment, found she breached Principles 1, 2 and 6 by virtue of the conviction. It found a lack of integrity (not dishonesty). Given her high culpability, financial gain motive, exploitation of vulnerable clients, and lack of insight, she was struck off the Roll and ordered to pay costs of £1,238.

Duties found breached:

• No abuse of process or coercive powers
• No taking unfair advantage
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Misconduct involved commission of four criminal offences
• Deliberate, calculated and repeated conduct
• Offending spanned 26 January 2013 to 16 September 2014
• Clients were potentially vulnerable (immigration matters at stake)
• Acted for financial gain and breached position of trust
• Respondent's experience meant she must have known conduct was wrong
• No insight shown