A solicitor has been jailed after attempting to commit a fraud against a former employee. Diljit Bachada used falsified documents in an attempt to make a court claim against a former worker at Hollies Solicitors in Bromsgrove.
A dispute arose between the two parties over money owed to the victim after she resigned from the firm in August 2012. In May 2013, the victim received a County Court claim made against her by Bachada for the sum of £20,486.35, claiming she had breached her contract of employment.
Attached to the claim were two contracts apparently signed by the victim and Bachada, who was the principal solicitor at the firm. But on closer inspection, the victim realised she had never signed the documents and reported the matter to police. After examining the contracts, handwriting experts confirmed the signatures were not hers, while police discovered further anomalies, including an incorrect Law Society copyright at the foot of each page.
Furthermore, the documents appeared to have been signed in January 2010, but the clause stated in the contract had not even come into force until July that year. Police subsequently arrested Bachada along with another solicitor, Tharanjit Biring, who had assisted Bachada by providing false information in a witness statement.
Following a six week trial at Bristol Crown Court, Bachada, 45, was found guilty of two counts of fraud and two counts of perverting the course of justice. She was jailed for four and a half years on Wednesday, August 23. Biring, 41, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and sentenced to 19 months in prison.
Ian Crooks, Senior Crown Prosecutor with West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Diljit Bachada abused her position of trust and authority to try and manipulate a civil claim against her former employee. “Tharanjit Biring assisted her by providing false information in a witness statement.
“Their fraud was uncovered when the victim became suspicious about a number of documents which were sent to her which appeared to bear her signature.
“Handwriting experts concluded that these were not her signatures and investigation also uncovered incorrect use of The Law Society copyright as well as inserting a law in the contract which had not even been introduced when the contracts were alleged to have been signed.
“Both of these two individuals have brought their profession into disrepute and they will now have to deal with the consequences of their actions.”
