Two partners in a prominent firm of solicitors have been struck off for professional misconduct over the misuse of public funds.
Alan Miller and James Price of Ross Harper have been formally removed from the professional roll.
The Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal (SSDT) ruled that the men used public funds to keep their business afloat rather than promptly paying their suppliers.
The body published a report yesterday which concluded that the pair had been involved in dishonesty over a significant period of time.
Cameron Fyfe and Alan Susskind, two of their former colleagues, were struck off earlier this year.
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Paul McHolland and Joseph Mullen, also partners in the firm, were censured by the SSDT but are still able to practise as solicitors.
Ross Harper, once one of the best known solicitor firms in Scotland, went out of business in 2012.
It has been established that public funds assigned to cases by the Scottish Legal Aid Board lay in “a drawer” — the firm’s bank account — for up to two years, helping the business to temporarily balance its books after the financial crash of 2008.
The tribunal found that Mr Miller and Mr Price were no longer fit to be solicitors. A report from the hearing says: “There was evidence that they had controlled the cashroom and finances together. These individuals had been involved in dishonesty. They did not show any remorse or insight into their conduct. Their behaviour constituted an ongoing course of conduct over a significant period of time.” It concluded that any lesser sanction than formal removal would be inadequate and that their conduct “was a danger to the public”.
The tribunal ruled that Mr McHolland and Mr Mullen were less culpable than their colleagues.
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It said: “The nature of their professional misconduct was the failure of management, not duties to clients.
“They were not active participants in the scheme. They have already suffered significantly financially in consequence of their actions.”
It had previously emerged that the company had used delaying tactics to avoid paying creditors.
Companies and individuals had to wait up to three years for payment after cheques were cancelled and reissued on numerous occasions.
Lorna Jack, chief executive of the Law Society of Scotland, the profession’s regulator, said the decision to strike off Mr Miller and Mr Price would help to maintain public trust in the legal profession.
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She said: “We take our regulatory role very seriously and will intervene to protect clients when we suspect that any of our members has failed to meet the society’s high professional standards.”
Ms Jack added: “Concerns were raised about the firm’s accounting record following one of our routine financial compliance inspections.
“This led to us going to the Court of Session to request the appointment of a judicial factor to the firm in April 2012 and, following investigation, we prosecuted all six former partners before the independent SSDT.”
Ross Harper, which was founded in 1961, specialised in legal aid work before it went out of business.