Former human rights lawyer sentenced for fraud on the public purse

A former solicitor has been sentenced today (10 December 2024) for defrauding the Legal Services Commission (forerunner of the Legal Aid Agency),and making substantial gain at a significant cost to the public purse.

Phil Shiner, 67, has been sentenced to 2 years imprisonment suspended for 2 years for three counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court to which he pleaded guilty on 30 September 2024.

Shiner was Principal Solicitor of the law firm Public Interest Lawyers in 2007 when he applied to the Legal Services Commission for Legal Aid funding, including for his client Khuder Al-Sweady, to make an application for Judicial Review of the decision by the Ministry of Justice not to hold an independent inquiry into the death of his nephew.

Khuder Al-Sweady alleged that his nephew, Hamid Al-Sweady, was unlawfully killed while in the custody of British troops at Camp Abu Naji following the Battle of Danny Boy near Amarah in Southern Iraq. A number of further clients obtained by Shiner were subsequently joined to the Judicial Review.

The subsequent independent Al-Sweady Inquiry into these allegations found 'beyond all doubt' that the principal allegations, including Khuder Al-Sweady's, were 'wholly without foundation and entirely the product of deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility'. The Al-Sweady Inquiry cost the taxpayer around £24 million.

The application for Legal Aid was fraudulent because Shiner failed to disclose to the Legal Services Commission when applying that he had broken two fundamental rules of his Legal Aid Contract and Professional Code of Conduct. He had caused his agent in Iraq to obtain clients by cold calling and had paid him fees for referring clients - both prohibited in the Contract and the Code.

The value of the Legal Aid funding obtained by Shiner for Khuder Al-Sweady was £90,616.88, and for the linked case of Hussain Fadhil Abbas, was £109,209.03 making a total of £199,825.91 for those two claims alone.

If the Legal Aid Agency had been aware of the defendant’s dishonesty, they would have been entitled to withdraw his firm’s Legal Aid contract. The contract resulted in the firm being paid in the region of £3million in Legal Aid, which is funded by the British taxpayer.

Shiner was also convicted of providing a witness statement to the Legal Services Commission in support of his application which was again gained by an unsolicited approach.

Sian Mitchell of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “The defendant defrauded a statutory legal body for his own selfish motives. As a result of the deliberate failure to disclose his serious breaches of the rules governing Legal Aid and his Professional Code of Conduct, Shiner was able to retain his highly lucrative Legal Aid contract and obtain taxpayer-funded Legal Aid payments.

“The National Crime Agency and the CPS worked closely to bring this corrupt lawyer to justice after a complex investigation and prosecution case.

“The CPS will now commence confiscation proceedings in order to reclaim the proceeds of the defendant's fraud.”

The CPS is committed to continuing to work alongside law enforcement and investigatory authorities to bring fraudsters who target the public sector to justice.