A former fee-earner with a Bradford firm has been barred from the profession after paying himself a Covid loan from the government.

Mohammed Shokat, who was employed at Apex Solicitors Limited based in Manningham Lane, Bradford, applied in March 2020 for a ’bounce back’ 100% government-backed loan for £50,000. It was the maximum allowed through the coronavirus response scheme.

The scheme was intended to help small and medium-sized businesses survive the economic effects of lockdown, with no fees or interest to pay in the first 12 months.

A Solicitors Regulation Authority decision notice stated that Shokat made misleading declarations on the application form and subsequently transferred £49,512.30 of the loan monies into his own bank account and that of an unregulated firm for which he was the sole director and 100% shareholder. The SRA said Shokat, from Allerton in Bradford, had acted dishonestly and such conduct made it undesirable for him to work in the profession again.

Shokat, who is not a solicitor, is believed to have also been a director with a Bradford company named on Companies House as Blake Morgan International, although he left this role in December. He is now subject to a section 43 order preventing him from working in any capacity for an regulated firm without written permission from the SRA.

Apex Solicitors Limited was closed down in December 2020 following an intervention by the SRA, which deemed it necessary to protect the interests of clients or former clients.

It is understood that the SRA has notified the relevant authorities after discovering what Shokat had done with the loan monies. HM Revenue & Customs, which is responsible for recouping Covid-19 support payments, was criticised last week by the House of Commons public accounts committee for effectively having ‘written off’ £4bn of Covid-related fraud and for ‘unambitious’ plans to recover payments.

 

* Please note that the Blake Morgan International named in this article is not connected in any way to Blake Morgan LLP or Blake Morgan Group LLP.