‘I didn’t know the legal aid bills were bent’

The clerk who allegedly helped a gang of crooked lawyers defraud the taxpayer out of millions of pounds in legal aid ‘did not know the claims were fraudulent’, a court heard.

Barrister Shahid Rashid, 59, together with solicitors Razi Shah, 49, and husband and wife Rasib Ghaffar, 50, and Kareena Maciel, 47, are said to have falsely claimed £1,856,584 in costs for a Bournemouth Crown Court trial in 2011.

Also accused in the conspiracy are solicitors Azhar Khan, 48, Joseph Ameyaw-Kyeremeh, 69, and legal clerk Gazi Khan, 49.

Azhar Khan and Gazi Khan are further accused of fraudulently claiming nearly £9 million in legal aid relating to two 2012 trials at the Old Bailey and Isleworth Crown Court.

Southwark Crown Court heard the group successfully claimed £469,477 of public money in the first conspiracy.

Giving evidence Gazi Khan told the court he believed the legal aid claims he was submitting were genuine.

His barrister Joel Bennathan, QC, asked him: ‘Was it for you, en employee, a non-solicitor, to take decision about what a client is charged?’

‘No,’ replied Khan.

Gazi Khan, along with Azhar Khan, is said to have submitted on of two claims totalling over £8million in the case of Amy Trihn at the Old Bailey.

Mr Bennathan said: ‘When the case went from ALH to City Law, did you think it was going as a legal aid case or as a private case?’

Khan replied: ‘As a legal aid case.’

Khan, who had overseen the case being transferred from one law firm to another said he focused on the administrative aspects of it.

‘The judge was quite keen to ensure the timetable was kept and the trial was within the dates,’ he said.

‘Judges are concerned whether defendants were using [changing counsel] as a mechanism to delay the trial.’

He added that this was done in order to prevent any duplication of legal costs.

Mr Bennathan asked: ‘Generally, from working in law back in 2011 and 2012, would you have anticipated that a claim of over £7million, do do think that would be unremarked or be subject to anxious scrutiny?’

‘Be subject to anxious scrutiny,’ said Khan.

The jury heard that while most crown court defendants use legal aid, some of them pay privately for their defence.

But if the defendant who is privately represented is cleared of the charges, they are entitled to claim back their costs through a defendant’s cost order.

Gazi Khan, of Lingwood Gardens, Isleworth, Azar Khan, of Cecil Park, Pinner, Middlesex, Ameyaw-Kyeremeh, of Wandle Road, Croydon, Ghaffar and Maciel, both of Malford Grove, east London, Rashid, of Cherry Avenue, Langley, Berkshire and Shah, of Edinburgh Gardens, Windsor, all deny conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

Gazi Khan and Azhar Khan deny two further counts of fraud.

The trial continues.