Imran Haider Khawaja

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

Solicitor Imran Haider Khawaja admitted failing to cooperate with the Legal Ombudsman and SRA over an extended period (2021-2024), failing to comply with a s.147 Notice, and failing to discharge an undertaking within a reasonable time, breaching Principle 2 and Code paragraphs 7.3, 7.4 and 1.3. The contested allegation of lack of integrity (Principle 5) was not proved, the Tribunal accepting his serious health event as an explanation rather than excuse. No dishonesty was alleged or found. He was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay reduced costs of £20,000 (from £30,330 claimed).

Duties found breached:

• Proper termination and return of instructions
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Diligence and timeliness
• Cooperate openly with regulators
• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Protracted failures over a prolonged period (2021-2024)
• Multiple complaints involved (Client A, Client B, Sheridans)
• Failure to comply with statutory s.147 Notice (over 4 months late) despite warning of contempt proceedings
• Disregard of repeated reminders
• Respondent was experienced solicitor holding compliance roles (MLRO, COLP, COFA, Designated Complaints Handler)

Mitigating factors:

• Serious health event in October 2020 with cognitive impact during relevant period
• Death of his father in December 2022
• Unblemished career over 30+ years with no prior findings
• Genuine remorse and apology
• Full cooperation with SRA investigation and Tribunal, early admissions
• No client money at risk, no dishonesty, no concealment
• Low to medium harm
• Remedial measures implemented to prevent recurrence