Indian Lawyer Disqualified from Practicing Law in UK Following Conviction for Sham Marriages

London:

A 44-year-old individual who became a lawyer in India has been removed from practicing in the UK by the solicitors’ watchdog after a tribunal learned of his conviction eight years ago for arranging fake marriages for migrants to settle in Europe.

Mathew Moghan Rajamohan Chellam faced accusations of deceitful applications by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and a disciplinary tribunal concluded in its decision that there was no uncertainty that he knew or should have known that his behavior was in significant violation of the obligations to safeguard the public and the reputation of the legal profession.

In a ruling dated July 5 released recently, the tribunal notes that Chellam has since returned to India and that his current location in India was unknown.

“The Tribunal directed that the Respondent, Mathew Moghan Rajamohan Chellam, solicitor, be removed from the Roll of Solicitors and it further directed that he do pay the costs of and incidental to this application and enquiry fixed in the sum of GBP 4,058.00,” reads the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal order.

“In evaluating culpability, the Tribunal considered the fact that the Respondent’s motivation for the misconduct was for financial gain, the fact that the misconduct arose from carefully planned actions including by using fake marriages with a view to exploiting applicable laws, and that the circumstances giving rise to the misconduct were under the direct control of the Respondent and concluded that Respondent’s level of culpability was extremely high,” it notes.

According to the order filed with the UK’s Law Society, Chellam was admitted to the UK’s Roll of Solicitors in February 2013 through the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT) route as he was already a Legal Advocate in India. In 2015, he is said to have “self-reported” and confirmed that he had been charged with criminal offenses under the UK’s immigration legislation and that he was contesting those charges.

In September 2016, at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London, he was convicted of aiding unlawful immigration into a European Union (EU) member state, five counts of providing immigration advice and one count of seeking to obtain leave to stay in the UK by deception and was sentenced to a total term of imprisonment of eight years.

As a result, the tribunal concluded that Chellam, who was not represented at its hearing last month, had “caused tremendous harm to the reputation of the legal profession” and his misconduct “constituted various criminal offenses”. He has now been removed from practicing as a lawyer in the UK.