THE former SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, who is now Alex Salmond’s partner in his media company, is being pursued in a legal disciplinary action over the administration of a trust fund when she was a director of a law firm which went bust owing £600,000.
A five-day hearing opens tomorrow in Perth, led by the Law Society, against her and her then-partner Niall Mickel in the defunct firm Hamilton Burns. A Law Society solicitor, the fiscal, will present the case against her and Mickel.
If the case of professional misconduct is proved, Ahmed-Sheikh and Mickel could be fined and even struck off as solicitors.
Ahmed-Sheikh resigned as a director of Hamilton Burns when she was elected an MP in May 2015. She has not practised law since then or since the company went bust in 2017, owing, among other debts, £210,000 in tax.
She was defeated in her seat in Ochil and South Perthshire in the 2017 General Election and is now a partner with former SNP leader Salmond in Slainte Media, the company which produces Salmond’s weekly TV show for the Russian broadcaster RT. In one of the latest submissions to Companies House, Ahmed-Sheikh has changed her nationality from British to Scottish.
In May 2017, the Law Society launched an investigation into the handling of the trust fund by Hamilton Burns.
Under the complaints procedure an investigation is first held and if it is believed there is a case to answer it is then referred to the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal, which deals with serious disciplinary matters. The fact that the investigation has led to tomorrow’s hearing means that the Law Society believes there is a prima facie case against her and Mickel.
The Law Society refused to comment ahead of the tribunal hearing
Ahmed-Sheikh did not respond to requests for comment. It is believed she will be represented in the procedure by the Edinburgh law firm Kennedys Law and is vigorously contesting the allegations against her.
After the demise of Hamilton Burns, Mickel was understood to have been living and working as a ski instructor in Switzerland. He could not be contacted.
However, when the initial inquiry was launched by the Law Society he described allegations of financial impropriety as “spurious” and “defamatory”.
He said then: “I set up 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.”
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