EXCLUSIVE – Shut down: Solicitors’ watchdog dramatically closes three legal firms caught offering to submit false asylum claims for thousands of pounds following Mail exposé

• Rishi Sunak and Lord Chancellor said ‘appalling’ conduct must be sanctioned
• Solicitors Regulation Authority has taken ‘urgent action’ following the exposé

The solicitors’ watchdog today dramatically closed three firms exposed by the Mail for offering to submit false asylum claims for thousands of pounds.

The regulator also banned a legal adviser from working for solicitors’ firms after he told our undercover reporter posing as an illegal migrant that he would invent stories including torture, death threats and modern slavery to help him apply for refugee status.

The swift response came after Rishi Sunak and Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk had said the allegations of ‘appalling’ conduct must be met with the ‘full force of sanctions’.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry and Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael were among politicians from all parties that had also called for the legal authorities to investigate.

In a response to a letter from the Lord Chancellor, Anna Bradley, chairman of the Solicitors Regulation Authority board, said she had been ‘shocked’ by the apparent behaviour of those solicitors identified by the Mail.

Lawyer Vinnasythamby Lingajothy  (pictured) offered to invent a horrific back story of torture, beatings, slave labour and death threats for an asylum application. He has been banned from working for solicitors’ firms

Muhammad Azfar (pictured) from Kingswright Solicitors who suggested a marriage ploy to client

Rashid Ahmad Khan (pictured), from Rashid & Rashid Solicitors, offered to invent dangers of life in India 

Malik Nazar Hayat (pictured) told our reporter the whole process would cost £5,500 in cash, a price he insists is a steal from his usual fees of £12,000 to £15,000 for similar cases

After reviewing the evidence supplied by this paper, she said the regulator had taken ‘urgent action’ which included suspending solicitors working at three of the firms and closing these firms.

READ MORE: How the Daily Mail exposed corrupt immigration lawyers: Watch our video explainer as calls grow for a crackdown on rogue solicitors charging up to £10,000 to make bogus asylum claims 

She said the SRA has also made an order against a non-regulated person working at a further firm which stops him ‘working with or for’ any SRA regulated firm.

The watchdog has also started an ‘urgent on-site inspection’ of two of the firms involved to ‘gather further evidence’ and was in talks with other enforcement agencies to ‘co-ordinate our actions’, she said.

And Ms Bradley said the regulator was also launching a ‘wider inspection of the immigration sector’ to examine compliance with its new guidance.

‘This will commence in the next few weeks and will include a cross section of firms working in the asylum sector and take into account the issues raised by the Daily Mail investigation.’

The SRA would also be ‘expanding and promoting the information’ on our rules and best practice we have available to law firms, she said.

‘This will include new guidance that will take account of the serious issues raised by the Daily Mail investigation and will ensure that solicitors are aware of their professional obligations.’

In the letter, she added: ‘We very much agree that public trust and confidence is fundamental to a strong and healthy legal profession and, like you, we were shocked by the apparent behaviour of those solicitors identified by the Daily Mail recently.

The swift response came after Rishi Sunak (pictured) and Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk had said the allegations of ‘appalling’ conduct must be met with the ‘full force of sanctions’

‘As you acknowledge in your letter, solicitors play an important role in our society and the vast majority behave in an appropriate and professional manner, providing high quality, much needed advice and assistance to their clients.

‘However, in areas of law where the consequences for clients are so severe, such as in immigration services, these high standards are even more critical.’

She added that ‘due process must be followed’ and fairness for all involved was paramount.

Our damning investigation, using a reporter posing as an economic migrant who had arrived in the UK illegally, found legal staff readily offering to help him submit false asylum claims, in apparent contravention of the solicitors’ code of conduct.

One legal adviser even offered to supply the reporter antidepressant medication to show the Home Office as ‘evidence’ that he was traumatised.

At another firm, a lawyer said he would have to ‘create the evidence’ to make it appear the reporter had a genuine fear of ‘persecution and assassination’ if he returned home.

The SRA has the power to levy substantial fines and even shut down law firms with immediate effect. Crucially, it can also refer rogue lawyers to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which can levy unlimited fines and strike off solicitors, leaving them unable to practise.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she suspected that the Mail’s findings were the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and warned that some of the practices went beyond potential professional sanctions and were ‘potentially criminal.’

However, a loophole in the law means that while migrants can face criminal sanctions for submitting false claims, it is much harder to prosecute their lawyers.

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