An unregistered barrister has been reprimanded after he was convicted of being in possession of Indian Hemp which he attempted to export from Malawi to the UK without a license or lawful excuse.
Allan Zalimba Joel Ntata, called to the Bar in March 2004, was convicted before the First Grade Magistrate sitting at Chisenjere in Malawi, East Africa, of being in possession of 38.1g of Indian Hemp without a license or lawful excuse and attempting to export it to the UK without a license.
Ntata was ordered to pay fines totalling 100,000 Malwaian Kwacha (£47.11).
The Bar Standards Board said Ntata failed to be ‘open and co-operative’ with the BSB and to report promptly or at all that he was charged in another jurisdiction with a criminal offence of comparable seriousness to an indictable offence in England and Wales.
A three-person disciplinary tribunal, which made a finding of professional misconduct against Ntata, found him to have ‘behaved in a way which is likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession and did something which could reasonably be seen by the public to undermine his integrity’.
Ntata was reprimanded and advised on his future conduct. He was also ordered to pay £250 costs.
The regulator was ordered not to issue Ntata with a practising certification for a period of three months. Ntata’s sanction is open to appeal.
