A Rochdale solicitor has been struck off and must pay £26,000 costs following a decision by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

Mohammed Asif Din was struck off on 1 March after a tribunal heard that between September 2013 and September 2015, at least £42,500 was paid into two bank accounts in the name of two contractors who had provided costs, marketing and investigation services.

The tribunal found that while ‘it was accepted there was no misappropriation of client money’, Mr Din ‘knew the money was being paid to him and knew that he was concealing that by creating false accounting records’.

The ground for intervention was there was reason to suspect dishonesty by Din in connection with his practices at Dean Solicitors Ltd, Sovereign Solicitors and Shire Solicitors.

The interventions were into Mr Din’s conduct and not that of Ismail Patel (Dean Solicitors) or Shameem Ali-Iqbal (Sovereign Solicitors) Din practised in partnership with Sarah Khan-Bashir under the name Shire Solicitors.

The intervention relates solely to Din’s practice at Shire Solicitors and does not affect Sarah Khan-Bashir.