A paralegal who worked at Linklaters for over ten years has been banned from the profession after being sacked and jailed for fleecing the firm of £86,000.
Raza Kanval, 36, fraudulently photocopied signed invoices so that a friend, Karim Rashid, whose company did work for the firm was paid twice. Rashid’s business was struggling and, at Linklaters’ expense, Kanval thought he’d throw him a lifeline. The slight wrinkle in their otherwise perfect plan was that Rashid pissed it away at the casino instead.
Linklaters sacked Kanval in May 2012. After admitting one charge of fraud at the Old Bailey last September he was sentenced to a year in prison. Now the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has decided that he should not be allowed near any law firm's photocopiers again. The SDT has ruled that the profession is not to let him get a job, be paid, take an interest in, own, manage, look sideways at or rub a regulated body. So he may have to update his LinkedIn status, which still says he is "Seeking new opportunities at Legal Firm".
A Linklaters spokesman said, "This relates to an incident dating back to March 2012. No client has been prejudiced. We regard the matter closed and have no further comment to make".
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Raza Kanval, 36, fraudulently photocopied signed invoices so that a friend, Karim Rashid, whose company did work for the firm was paid twice. Rashid’s business was struggling and, at Linklaters’ expense, Kanval thought he’d throw him a lifeline. The slight wrinkle in their otherwise perfect plan was that Rashid pissed it away at the casino instead.
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"I promise, this time I am absolutely not going to the Hippodrome. I'm going to sit here and sort out this company. Cheers mate. Taxi!" |
Linklaters sacked Kanval in May 2012. After admitting one charge of fraud at the Old Bailey last September he was sentenced to a year in prison. Now the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has decided that he should not be allowed near any law firm's photocopiers again. The SDT has ruled that the profession is not to let him get a job, be paid, take an interest in, own, manage, look sideways at or rub a regulated body. So he may have to update his LinkedIn status, which still says he is "Seeking new opportunities at Legal Firm".
A Linklaters spokesman said, "This relates to an incident dating back to March 2012. No client has been prejudiced. We regard the matter closed and have no further comment to make".
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