Police suspect that applications for legal aid costs were allegedly made in the names of barristers who didn’t even work on cases
THREE judges are among 12 lawyers being probed over suspected bogus legal aid claims for more than £15million.
Scotland Yard’s fraud team have arrested three suspects and quizzed nine more under caution.
The CPS has spent two years reviewing the “large and complex investigation” and is considering charges.Three of the suspects questioned under caution sit as part-time judges in the South East of England.
The other nine are solicitors and barristers working for legal firms in London and the Home Counties.Cops have probed ten cases from 2011 and 2012 with total claims of more than £15million, of which around ten per cent was paid.
Defendants who were privately represented were acquitted or had charges dropped, enabling costs to be claimed against the taxpayer.
Some lawyers are suspected of switching clients’ representation without them knowing so they were defended on exorbitant fees instead of lower flat rates.
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