A solicitor has failed in her application for restoration to the roll 24 years after being struck off, after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found restoration would not be in the public interest.
Rita Ifeyinwa Chris-Garuba (aka Kuku), admitted in 1998, was registered in England and Wales as a foreign lawyer in 1996. She practised at Cyril Waterton Solicitors, which was intervened into in1999.
Chris-Garuba, as a consequence of the intervention, appeared before the tribunal which found all allegations against her proved and she was struck off. Her first application for restoration was refused in 2018.
She again sought restoration to the roll to help advance her legal career in Nigeria. A hearing was held in May 2024.
The SDT judgment states that Chris-Garuba ‘had no intention to practise as a solicitor in England and Wales and was prepared to provide an undertaking not to apply for a practising certificate in that regard’. It added: ‘Mrs Chris-Garuba stated that she had not been able to progress in either direction as she had been struck from the roll 24 years ago.’
The tribunal found that the matters leading to ‘Chris-Garuba (a.k.a Kuku)’s removal from the roll were of the utmost gravity’.
It said: ‘The underlying dishonest misconduct comprised of her repeatedly lying to two sets of solicitors in order to sell a property from herself (in her married name) to herself (in her maiden name).’
Other failures related to misuse of client monies, failure to keep books of account properly written up, failure to comply with a professional undertaking and failure to comply with a direction issued by the assistant director of the Office for Supervision of Solicitors, the judgment said. ‘Those failures demonstrated a flagrant disregard of the standards and obligations of a solicitor.’
While 24 years had passed since the strike-off, ‘time in and of itself did not warrant restoration to the roll’.
Chris-Garuba was ordered to pay costs of £3,224.
