On 17th October, it was reported that two brothers whose immigration law firm had earned thousands of pounds filing dozens of bogus asylum claims are still allowed to practise.
According to an investigation by The Times, Malik Mohammed Nazeer and Malik Mohammed Saleem “facilitated the abuse of litigation” by bringing tactical judicial reviews designed to prevent claimants from being removed from the UK. Their firm Malik & Malik which is based in Willesden has reportedly made 35 such claims on behalf of asylum seekers that were certified “totally without merit”.
In 2017 Nazeer was fined £20,000 with conditions being placed on his practice. Last year a judge rejected an appeal against the decision. Nazeer has since described it as “proportionate”. Meanwhile, Saleem was given an 18-month suspension as well as identical practice restrictions once the suspension ends. The paper reported that Saleem was partner in charge of the immigration department and “the more culpable of the two” according to the tribunal. It is also understood that he failed to warn two of his clients that any claims they brought would be “bound to fail and/or out of time”, and was “manifestly incompetent” in one case. He “had put unarguable points before the court and in doing so had wasted his clients’ money and court time”.
Yet, both the brothers are still licensed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) as reported by The Times. According to the paper, in the last three years the SRA has taken 11 solicitors to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) over misconduct in immigration. This has led to six strike-offs, two suspensions and fines of £48,000. Matters have included sham marriages and making applications that had no merit to try to delay proceedings. But at the same time there is no suggestion that they have engaged in malpractice or any illegal claims and almost all asylum seekers and refugees will be without funds and be reliant on legal aid to pursue their claims.
