Nasir Jamshed's former solicitor fined £40,000 for 'dishonesty'

LONDON: Nasir Jamshed's former UK solicitor, Shahid Ali of Osborne Knight Solicitors, has been fined £40,000, along with £30,000 in legal costs, by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal after being found guilty of 'dishonesty and serious professional misconduct' in his handling of client funds and his communications during Jamshed's criminal proceedings.

Shahid Ali represented Nasir Jamshed following his 2017 arrest by the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) in connection with the 2016 Pakistan Super League corruption investigation.

Jamshed, a former Pakistan international cricketer, was later sentenced to 17 months imprisonment, after changing his plea to guilty in December 2019 during a trial at Manchester Crown Court.

The complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was brought by Dr Samara Afzal, Jamshed’s wife. 

The Tribunal heard that during an NCA search of Dr Afzal's home, approximately £5,500 in cash was seized and later returned to Ali in September 2017. Ali failed to record this money in a client ledger and retained possession of it for nearly two years, while repeatedly denying to Jamshed and Dr Samara Afzal that he had received it.

Describing Ali's misconduct as very serious, the Tribunal imposed financial sanctions totalling £70,000 and concluded that his actions involved dishonesty, misleading his client, and fundamental failures in handling client money.