You need to read all of this to understand how legal aid is being exploited 27 Feb 2025 Never forget the only reason these foreigners got done for defrauding our Legal Aid system was because they hadn’t done the work, if they had, the trial of a Pakistani restaurant owner who employed a few Asylum seekers would have netted them £12.6m. Just think of the many many cases where fraud can’t be found and legal aid, Our Legal Aid, Pay their disgusting bills ! The Cousins are bleeding us dry ! Part-time immigration judges Rasib Ghaffar, 48, his wife Kareena Maciel, 46, and part-time civil judge Razi Shah, 47, were among those to appear in the dock at Southwark Crown Court today. Barrister Shahid Rashid, 57, solicitors Joseph Ameyaw-Kyeremeh, 67, Azhar Khan, 46, Lloyd Moody, 48, Samira Bashir, 46, and legal clerk Gazi Khan, 50, who told court he has legally changed his name to Steven J Parker, also appeared. A shamed solicitor who took part in a multi-million pound legal aid fraud may have to pay back just £66,000, a court heard. Azhar Khan, 53, was part of a group of crooked lawyers who tried to claim nearly £9m in taxpayers money for trials in 2011 and 2012. Khan, the sole practitioner at City Law Solicitors, stated he carried out 500 hours representing defendants in a case at Bournemouth Crown Court in July 2011. He later claimed £162,296 in legal aid, Southwark Crown Court heard. Khan was convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and sentenced to two years imprisonment suspended for two years in March 2023. He returned to court for a proceeds for crime application hearing (POCA) as prosecutor Paul Sharkey said: ‘There was clearly a pattern of fraudulent claims being submitted to the NTT (National Taxing Team of the Legal Aid Agency) by City Law.’ ‘Although the payment was made by the NTT to a limited company, it is submitted that the court should pierce the corporate veil and fix Azhar Khan with the full amount paid to City Law as representing his benefit from criminal conduct.’ Mr Sharkey said the total benefit for Khan was £121,750.67. His available assets are £31,114.88 in equity from a Pinner property he co-owns with his wife and a Revolut balance of £34,936.82. The total amount available for confiscation is £66,081.70, the court was told. Andrew Trollope KC, for Khan, argued that the prosecution ‘are not entitled to treat the acts of Mr Khan as those of the company and visa versa.’ Judge Tony Baumgartner said he will announce judgment in a ‘few weeks’. In June last year former immigration judge Rasib Ghaffar, 54, was jailed for three years after he raked in £140,000 from the legal aid scam. Ghaffar was paid to represent a client at Bournemouth Crown Court in the 2011 trial involving Indian restaurants employing illegal immigrants when he was not even there. The qualified barrister and part-time immigration judge, denied but was convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation with six others including a fellow barrister, solicitors, clerk and costs draftsman. His wife, solicitor Kareena Maciel, 52, was found unfit to stand trial due to ‘medical problems.’ Solicitor Joseph Ameyaw-Kyeremeh, 74, along with legal clerk Gazi Khan, 53, also falsely claimed £1,856,584 in costs relating to the 2011 trial. Gazi Khan was locked up for five years in March 2023 while Ameyaw-Kyeremeh was handed a two-year sentence suspended for two years in December 2021 after he was convicted of making claims worth over £1m, through his firm “Joseph & Co”.