FORMER SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh is to face a legal disciplinary action over the administration of a trust fund in her previous career as a partner in a law firm which went bust owing £600,000.
Last night the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal, the independent body which deals with serious disciplinary issues, confirmed that Ahmed-Sheikh, a lawyer before she became an MP, and her former business partner Niall Mickel were being served with the misconduct complaint and had 21 days to respond.
This follows a Law Society investigation, launched last May, over the trust fund set up by the now defunct firm, Hamilton Burns, to which she was a signatory. The Law Society refused to comment on the case. However under the procedural rules if a complaint is investigated and deemed to have merit it is then referred to the tribunal, which has to decide whether there is a prima facie case against the solicitor complained about. The fact that a notice has been served on Ahmed-Sheikh and Mickel confirms that the tribunal believes there is a case to answer. The procedure - known as ‘prosecution’ - is led by a Law Society appointed specialist solicitor known as a fiscal, and may result in a hearing of evidence and legal submissions before the tribunal, which has the power to strike off lawyers in the most serious cases.
Ahmed-Sheikh set up Hamilton Burns WS as a partnership with Mickel in 2001 and it became a limited company in 2014. She was one of two directors but resigned shortly after becoming an MP. The company went down owing £600,000, including £210,000 in tax. Mickel has since claimed that he is owed £241,400 by the defunct company. In December 2016, it emerged that Ahmed-Sheikh also faced court action from HM Revenue and Customs in a sequestration case related to Hamilton Burns WS Limited. Sequestration is the removing, separating or seizing of anything from the possession of its owner under process of law for the benefit of creditors or the state. HMRC launched an action against Ahmed-Sheikh as a former partner in the firm and as an individual, as well as against the company. The case never came to court after being dismissed ‘in chambers’. Ahmed-Sheikh insisted at the time that she had ‘no outstanding personal tax liability whatsoever’.
After losing the seat her seat in the Commons, Ahmed-Sheikh became partner with Alex Salmond in the company Slainte Media Limited, which produces the former First Minister’s weekly TV show for the broadcaster RT.
Niall Mickell was unavailable for comment. He is now believed to be living and working as a ski instructor in Switzerland. When the initial probe was launched by the Law Society he said: “The suggestion that I am being investigated for financial impropriety in relation to my administration of a Trust for a vulnerable person is absolutely wrong, defamatory and actionable. The hurt, embarrassment and consternation caused to my family by these entirely spurious allegations is enormous and the damage to my professional reputation incalculable.” He added: “I set the fund up and put my own money into it, and the trust runs in my name as the Niall Mickel Trust. It was previously administered by Tasmina and I when she was a partner in Hamilton Burns.”
Ahmed-Sheikh did not respond to requests for comment. However it is understood that she will be vigorously contesting the allegation. The SNP did not respond to requests for comment.
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