Crooked solicitor is banned

A crooked Wolverhampton solicitor who bought a house with his clients' money has been banned from practising by a disciplinary tribunal.

Sudesh Chamba financed the deal with £55,000 of cash from people he was representing when the sale of his own home fell through, the tribunal was told. Investigators found the 47-year-old had also settled a dispute with a former partner in his Wolverhampton firm by paying him another £30,000 which he again took from his client funds.

Chamba was the sole partner in his firm practising from offices in Dudley Road, Wolverhampton, which were raided by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority in February 2006.

A disciplinary tribunal in London heard yesterday how the accounts were in such a mess that investigators struggled to make sense of the business. The hearing was told Chamba took money to pay off his partner when the cash from a bank loan did not come through.

Jayne Willets, from the SRA, told the hearing: "It is admitted that he did not have funds to make the payment. The only way he was able to make the payment was to use clients' money." Around 18 months later in October 2005, Chamba was buying a property in Appleby Gardens in Essington and selling his own home.

Miss Willets added: "The sale of Mr Chamba's property fell though but the purchase proceeded, leaving him short of funds. On the day of completion he withdrew from a client account £55,023 to assist with his purchase." The tribunal heard he also failed to tell two clients to seek legal advice when they loaned him £66,000 to shore up a "black hole" in his client accounts.

Chamba admitted a series of allegations including wrongly using clients' money, failing to rectify shortfalls in client accounts and failing to keep his books property written up. He also admitted two instances of dishonesty.

A total of 40 references from local dignitaries including members of his local Sikh temple were produced in Chamba's defence.

But tribunal chairman Peter Kempster said the state of his accounts meant the lawyer could have "no idea" how much money he had in a client account.

Chamba now plans to appeal.