A barrister has been suspended for six months for failing to comply with a court order to pay more than £64,000.
Zaheer Ahmad, called in October 2011, was ordered by Wandsworth County Court to pay the sum of £54,595.39 plus £9,416.50 in costs to a third party by 5 November 2015. The Bar Tribunals & Adjudication Service found he had failed to comply.
By not complying with the court order, it said Ahmad has behaved in a way that was ‘likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in him or in the profession and which could reasonably be seen by the public to undermine his integrity’.
Ahmad was ordered to be suspended from practice for six months following the five-person tribunal’s finding of professional misconduct.
The Bar Standards Board, which brought the charges, said: ‘The public should be able to expect barristers to comply with court orders. Given the sums involved and the length of time, the tribunal saw Mr Ahmad’s failure to comply with a court order as a serious matter and their decision to suspend him from practice reflects this.’
The tribunal’s decision is open to appeal.
