The Bar Tribunal and Adjudication Service (BTAS) has disbarred a dual qualified barrister and solicitor almost a decade after he was struck off for working for both sides of a conveyancing transaction.
In 2004, Godwin Okri acted for both the seller and the buyer while working on the transaction despite the existence of a conflict of interest and failing to gain the written consent of the parties.
According to the BTAS, Okri also dishonestly ignored a green card warning from the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority in regard to the property fraud and breached Money Laundering Regulations by failing to ascertain the client’s identity. He was later struck off in 2009 by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
When delivering the judgement, the tribunal stated that the evidence provided by Okri had been contradictory, whilst his explanations lacked credibility.
Prior to being disbarred, Okri failed to cooperate with the Bar Standards Board (BSB) as he had not notified the regulator as to the outcome of the tribunal’s decision. They were therefore unaware that he had been struck off.
The decision, delivered yesterday (21/02/18), is open to appeal.
One Response
A good example of why one regulator would be more preferable.