Barrister Jailed After Last of £1.8 Million Legal Aid Scam Trials

Published on June 24, 2024

A barrister who worked part-time as an immigration tribunal judge has been jailed for three years for defrauding the Legal Aid Agency in a conspiracy which cost the taxpayer £1.8 million. The sentencing of Rasib Ghaffar, 54, at Southwark Crown Court on Friday brought to an end a lengthy legal saga that dated back to 2015. Ghaffar was the last of the defendants to be convicted in connection to a string of frauds in which solicitors, barristers, and judges agreed to cook the books and inflate their legal fees. One of the ringleaders, legal clerk Gazi Khan, 55, was jailed for five years last year and his trial heard he had tried to perpetrate three frauds which would have cost the taxpayer a total of £12 million....

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