It was claimed yesterday by the News of the World that Aamer Anwar could be in trouble with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission for blurring the distinction between his role as defence solicitor and that of the role of “amicus curiae” (friend of the court), to which he was appointed during the trial when Sheridan sacked his QC.
Mr Anwar told The Herald: “The News of the World is not a paper I read before the Tommy Sheridan case.
“It might be useful if people got their facts right. I have always fulfilled my duties to my clients and the court, and I have no further comment to make.”
During the trial, Sheridan dispensed with his counsel, Maggie Scott QC, and opted to continue representing himself.
But the Scottish Legal Aid Board made clear that in circumstances where Mr Anwar was no longer instructing counsel, they would not continue paying him.
The trial judge therefore declared Mr Anwar an amicus curiae so that he could continue to assist his client.
A “friend of the court” is more usually appointed to safeguard the interests of vulnerable witnesses, but in this case it was a mechanism to allow the solicitor – who had spent considerable time preparing the defence – to continue working for his client.
Mr Anwar is confident that any complaint made to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission will be rejected out of hand.
He has insisted that the newspaper report is factually inaccurate and that he has at no time done anything wrong.
There was also some mystery over a claim by the Sunday tabloid that five witnesses who supported Mr Sheridan in court could now themselves face a police investigation for perjury.
The newspaper claimed that Gail Sheridan’s sister, Gillian McFarlane, was the subject of the complaint, along with her husband, Andy, and three friends of Sheridan. It claimed that a demand for a fresh perjury investigation had gone to Strathclyde Police, and quoted a spokeswoman for the force.
But yesterday the police said they could find no trace of such a statement and could not confirm whether any complaint had been made, or whether the complainer was a member of the public or the newspaper itself.
The Crown Office made it clear after Sheridan was convicted last month that it saw no public interest in pursuing any of the trial witnesses for possible perjury.
The former Socialist MSP will be sentenced in three weeks’ time and has been warned that he can expect a lengthy prison sentence.
