A sole practitioner jailed for his part in a property scam has been struck off the roll by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

Hashok Parmar was convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud by falsely representing that the sales of certain properties were genuine transactions. Most attempts were unsuccessful, but in one case cited by the tribunal, the conspirators created a false identity to represent a property owner and obtain £240,000 from the would-be buyer.

Parmar then worked with another individual to keep the proceeds from the sales by moving the money through different bank accounts and converting sums to cash.

It was reported at the time of his conviction that the pair tried to obtain a total of £3m by selling houses they did not own but were frustrated in most attempts by law firms seeing through the deception.

Parmar was convicted in 2020 following a trial at Leicester Crown Court and later sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.

Replying to the SDT from prison, he said he had neither the funds to pay for a lawyer nor the confidence to represent himself. He stated in a written answer that ‘I have throughout this matter maintained my innocence and I will until my demise, despite being convicted’.

Parmar was admitted in February 1992 and practised at now-closed Sterling Law (later known as Kings Law Solicitors) in Loughborough.

The tribunal heard of one previous disciplinary matter, when Parmar was suspended for 18 months for failing to supervise his firmn's head of operations who had criminal convictions and misappropriated almost £60,000 from the client account.

The tribunal found Parmar’s latest misconduct was ‘deliberate, planned, repeated and continued over a period of time’, involving an abuse of position and concealment of wrongdoing. IT added: ‘There was serious harm to an individual and potential harm to others. Insofar as the attempted frauds were unsuccessful, this was due to the good judgment of others and did not detract from the fact that serious harm was foreseeable and intended.’

Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Matthew Swift, of Leicestershire Police’s economic crime unit, said the case would ‘hopefully go some way in reassuring the community that we can and will investigate such offences and bring those responsible to justice, and deter others from committing sophisticated frauds’.

Parmar said he considered himself bankrupt and unable to pay costs. The tribunal ordered him to pay £3,600.

 

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