Monday, January 09, 2012

SHHH Happens : SLCC Legal Complaints CEO Rosemary Agnew tipped for FOI Commissioner role after 5 FOI ‘rebukes’ & refusals to monitor Master Policy

Rosemary-AgnewRosemary Agnew, Chief Executive of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission tipped for FOI anti-secrecy role. ROSEMARY AGNEW the current Chief Executive of the under achieving, anti-consumer law complaints quango, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) which has today been named along with other Scottish public bodies in a Hall of Shame of organisations including the Scottish Government, Police, quangos & local authorities which deliberately mishandle Freedom of Information requests & disclosures, is reported to be tipped in the secret race to replace current Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion who leaves office in February 2012.

However, it can also be revealed today Ms Agnew in her capacity as SLCC Chief Executive has been rebuked by the current Information Commissioner, Mr Dunion on at least FIVE OCCASIONS for failures in handling FOI disclosures, one of which included the withholding of sensitive compensation payments data during the period Ms Agnew was actually being interviewed for the post of FOI Commissioner by Scottish Parliament officials.

The Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB) which itself has been responsible for many controversial decisions including the runaway construction budget of the Scottish Parliament itself, topping half a billion pounds of taxpayers money, is rumoured to be at the point of recommending Ms Agnew’s appointment to the post of FOI Commissioner to msps in the next few days. Yet so far, the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and even Ms Agnew herself have all refused detailed comment on the seemingly controversial appointment, which was revealed today in the Daily Record newspaper.

Asked about the rumoured controversial recommendation of Ms Agnew to fill the FOI Commissioner role, a Scottish Parliament spokesman simply said : “We expect to be in a position to confirm the nominee to Parliament early in the new year, ahead of Kevin Dunion’s departure in February.”

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission were contacted for comment and asked : “Does the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission have any comment on reports its Chief Executive Rosemary Agnew is to be recommended to msps to replace the current Scottish Information Commissioner Mr Kevin Dunion upon his demit of office in February of this year, and what Ms Agnew's appointment to the post (if confirmed by msps) will mean for freedom of information requests to the SLCC.”

A further question was put to the SLCC : “Does the SLCC have any comment on how the SLCC will cope with having to recruit a third Chief Executive in four years to the SLCC and the impact on the Commission's role of having three Chief Executives since 2008 ?“

The SLCC issued a blunt “no comment” to both questions.

Speaking to Diary of Injustice this morning, a legal insider said he was horrified someone with a record of refusing FOI requests could be appointed to the role of Scotland’s FOI Commissioner.

He said : “Unless Ms Agnew has significantly changed her attitudes towards FOI, I doubt a candidate with at least five rebukes for handling FOI requests who is coming from an organisation which has a history of waging a war of attrition against Freedom of Information laws, can fulfil the requirement for maintaining & strengthening Freedom of Information legislation in Scotland.”

A leading political observer, commenting on the SPCB’s appointment agreed it looked like the Scottish Parliament were about to choose someone who might not continue Mr Dunion’s work of expanding & upholding Freedom of Information compliance in Scotland.

Ms Agnew’s suitability for the role of FOI Commissioner has also been questioned today after it was claimed decisions taken by her in her role as Chief Executive of the Scottish legal Complaints Commission to refuse to monitor consumers individual claims made against the Law Society of Scotland's Master Policy which have left some clients penniless, in a state of financial ruin and facing years of hardship, ill health and hounding by firms of crooked lawyers. The claims were made by clients who have approached the SLCC to request the law complaints quango monitor individual claims made against the Master Policy after being financially ruined by "crooked lawyers" & corrupt Scottish law firms who took their clients for a ride through the courts system.

The SLCC has powers to monitor the Master Policy under Section 39 of the Legal Profession & Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 although its staff & board have sought on several occasions to loosely interpreted the terms of the law in an apparent attempt to avoid becoming involved in matters which have already led to confrontation between the SLCC, Law Society of Scotland & Marsh UK, the UK subsidiary of the convicted US Insurers Marsh McLennan Companies who are brokers of the Master Policy which is backed by insurers such as Royal Sun Alliance PLC.

SLCC Master Policy Monitor request 19 11 2010Letter reveals SLCC’s latest Chief Executive told client they will not monitor claims made against crooked lawyers. In a letter released to Diary of Injustice, the SLCC’s Chief Executive, Rosemary Agnew refused to become involved in monitoring claims to the Master Policy. Ms Agnew wrote : “..it is not within the SLCC’s remit to monitor individual claims made under the Master Policy. Under the Legal Profession & Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 (Section 39), the SLCC may monitor the overall effectiveness of guarantee funds, etc and professional indemnity arrangements put in place by the Law Society of Scotland for its members (ie the Master Policy). This power does not extend to our active involvement in the way in which individual indemnity claims are being dealt with by the insurers.”

A succession of additional letters from Ms Agnew to claimants have been released to Diary of Injustice, showing Ms Agnew refused requests by beleaguered clients to monitor their claims to the Master Policy.

Speaking at the time of Ms Agnew’s blunt refusals to monitor claims to the Master Policy, Consumer Focus Scotland sided with clients, and supported calls for consumers to be able to submit concerns about the Master Policy on their cases directly to the SLCC. A spokesperson for Consumer Focus Scotland said : “After concerns were raised with the SCC (Scottish Consumer Council) regarding the operation of the master policy, the SCC argued that the SLCC should be given power to monitor the effectiveness of the master policy in the Legal Services and Legal Profession (Scotland) Act 2007, and we were very pleased when this was included.”

The spokesperson continued : “It has always been our understanding that the intention behind section 39 of the Act was that the SLCC would monitor the overall effectiveness of the operation of the Master Policy, rather than monitoring individual claims. It does seem to us, however, that in order to monitor the overall effectiveness of the Master Policy, the SLCC must be able to consider evidence about the way in which individual claims to the Policy have been handled. It is therefore important that consumers are able to submit concerns about the way their claim has been handled to the SLCC, to assist the SLCC to undertake this function effectively.”

Master Policy Report Suicides revealedMs Agnew’s refusal to involve the SLCC in actively monitoring individual claims to the Master Policy has come of something as a shock to many legal observers, who keenly anticipated the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission would end the world of corruption surrounding damages claims made against rogue solicitors & law firms by financially ruined clients, particularly after an independent report commissioned by the SLCC found the Law Society of Scotland & the Master Policy insurers had covered up the fact clients had committed suicide after being let down by law firms who were supposedly representing their claims against the Master Policy in the Court of Session, itself well known as a cosy lawyer only club unwilling to rule against the profession. Diary of Injustice reported on the report into the Master Policy here : Suicides, illness, broken families and ruined clients reveal true cost of Law Society's Master Policy which 'allows solicitors to sleep at night'

A solicitor speaking to Diary of Injustice this afternoon said “The SLCC lacked any credibility on the news it was about to lose yet another Chief Executive.” He went onto claim the SLCC “has little consumer confidence, is not trusted by the legal profession, appears to hold no continuity and should be scrapped.”

BACKGROUND : ROSEMARY AGNEW, SLCC CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Rosemary Agnew is the SLCC’s second Chief Executive in three years. Ms Agnew took on the role after a short recruitment phase to replace the SLCC’s first Chief Executive Eileen Masterman who resigned after a bitter exchange with Cabinet Secretary for Finance John Swinney over issues involving meetings the SLCC held in connection with the Master Policy.

Ironically, one of Rosemary Agnew’s key refusals to disclose information to the public was information and discussions surrounding the SECRET SUBSTANTIAL PAY-OFF negotiated by lawyers acting for former SLCC CEO Eileen Masterman and the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. The secret payoff was also backed by the Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, and Scottish Ministers also refused to disclose the amount paid to Ms Masterman. Diary of Injustice reported on the secret pay-off scandal in an earlier article here : HUSH & MONEY : Former SLCC law complaints Chief Executive Eileen Masterman received secret Scottish Government approved payoff in deal with lawyers

SLCC Chief Executive Eileen Masterman (foreground) received Scottish Government approved pay off after lawyers intervened says auditor report. RUMOURS that Eileen Masterman, the former Chief Executive of the much derided Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC), received a SUBSTANTIAL PAY OFF after she resigned on grounds of “ill health”, after serving less than SEVEN MONTHS in the £80,000 a year, £1,350 plus, a week job have now been confirmed with the publication of a “Key Memorandum Issues” document prepared for the SLCC by the Edinburgh offices of auditors Grant Thornton. Grant Thornton were called in to replace the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) as the SLCC’s auditors, after SLAB were abruptly sacked from their auditing role by the SLCC’s board in 2009 after much bickering over the Legal Aid Board’s scrutiny of the failed law complaints quango.

Today’s Daily Record report :

stop secret Daily Record 9 January 2012STOP SECRET : Revealed: Government, police & local councils all among public bodies who flouted anti-secrecy laws

Jan 9 2012 Exclusive by Chris Musson

THE public bodies who fought tooth-and-nail to keep secrets from you are today exposed by the Record. The Government, police forces, councils and taxpayer-funded quangos all flouted anti-secrecy laws by knocking back legitimate Freedom of Information requests. They were forced to back down by Kevin Dunion, Scotland’s first Information Commissioner, who ruled in favour of the public 359 times since the new rules came into force in January 2005.

The worst offenders were the Scottish Government, who wrongly refused to disclose ­information 78 times over the last seven years. However, they also received the highest number of requests of any public body. Second on the league of shame were Edinburgh City Council, with 22 decisions against them. Third were Glasgow City Council with 17 decisions fully in favour of applicants, and fourth were Scottish Water with 15.

Among legitimate requests knocked back were details on the numbers of sex offenders in various areas – with Strathclyde Police, Grampian Police and Northern Constabulary all falling foul. Surgical mortality rates were also wrongly withheld by the NHS, as were details of public payments to firms of private consultants.

Dunion and his office made 1336 decisions to December 14, 2011. As well as the 359 fully in favour of the person appealing a refusal, 450 were partly in their favour.

A person who gets knocked back for an FoI request must first appeal to the public body before going to the Information Commissioner. It is time-consuming, meaning many members of the public give up, even if they have a good case.

But public bodies often fight to the bitter end, despite decisions being overturned by the ­Information Commissioner. Public bodies’ disregard for the laws is still widespread seven years on – and even appears to be growing. Last year saw the highest total for successful appeals by the public – on 85 occasions.

Dunion, who grew up in Fife and Clackmannanshire and was the rector of St Andrews University until 2011, steps down next month from the post of ­Information Commissioner he has held since 2003. Tomorrow, he will present a special report to the Scottish ­Parliament on his time in the job, and will urge the Government to “safeguard and strengthen” openness from public bodies.

Yesterday, he told the Record he was confident Scotland had “made a success” of freedom of information since 2005. He added said: “Public awareness of Freedom of Information is at an all-time high. Public authorities are responding to requests and information is being disclosed which would otherwise have remained secret. “We know much more about contracts and expenses, deaths in hospitals and local crime rates because of FoI. “Of course, there are disputes and failings which is why the free right of appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner is so important.”

He said most appeals were from members of the public, adding: “In the majority of my decisions I have found, at least in part, that the appeal was justified.”

TIP FORCED TO DISCLOSE

A WOMAN tipped to be Scotland's new anti-secrecy tsar has had a string of rulings made against her by the man she could replace.

Rosemary Agnew, who heads the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, is one of six people interviewed to be the next Information Commissioner. But Kevin Dunion has slapped down the SLCC eight times - five since Agnew took over as Chief Executive in October 2010.

Legal Reform campaigner Peter Cherbi, who had several requests knocked back by the SLCC, cast doubt over her suitability. He said : "How someone like that could be put in charge of openness is beyond me, unless they want to shut down openness and accountability."

Agnew did not respond to requests for a comment.

70 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your headline!

Hope no one is standing on the pavement outside the Stamp Office when they throw their screens out the window!

Anonymous said...

Master Policy again - its poison to anyone who touches it.

So if Agnew doesn't get the job will she stay on at the SLCC?If she does where is her credibility and why are the SLCC not advertising the post of Chief Executive if she wants to go?

Sorry to say this fellow LSoS buntings however I think we owe Peter a debt on this one (again)

He's managed to discredit the SLCC much better than any of us ever could!

Anonymous said...

The SPCB.Otherwise known to SP staff as the Holyrood mafia.

You should do some fois to find out how this lot treat their employees.Ivory towers fat pensions + unexplained payoffs etc

Anonymous said...

Just watch those numbers of appeals shoot up under Agnew and how many she throws out.

SLCC to benefit?

No wonder they didnt issue any comment!

Anonymous said...

Nice to see the Record picking up on stuff like this.As they say We need more FOI not less!

Anonymous said...

Excellent report Peter, I wonder who put the Daily Record in the picture?

If Agnew is appointed, and let's not forget it is an appointment in the gift of politicians, then it would be a disaster for anyone seeking information via the Freedom of Information Act in Scotland - and the SNP know it.

After your report I suspect another obliging lackey will be found waiting round the corner ready to fill the job.

Anonymous said...

Oh Dear.Looks like an attempt by the Scottish Parliament to silence all these FOI requests.

More cover ups for an independent Scotland administered by you-know-who.

Anonymous said...

So what is the excuse of the Scottish Parliamentarians who were unaware Agnew was getting her knuckles wrapped by Dunion while she was applying for his post?

What a miserable bunch of politicians you must have in Scotland.

Anonymous said...

You do have a habit of causing problems Mr Cherbi.Do you realise Mr Dunion is at the Scottish Parliament tomorrow to give a talk about FOI?

Anonymous said...

These people decide who the FOI Commissioner should be ?

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/abouttheparliament/18343.aspx

Mary Scanlon MSP, David Stewart MSP, Tricia Marwick MSP (Presiding Officer), Linda Fabiani MSP and Liam McArthur MSP

Seems a bit of a rip off for politicians to decide who is in charge of freedom of info especially when lots of the foi requests are probably to do with the same politicians expenses fiddling and them not doing their job!

FOI Commissioner position should be open to election or even a referendum certainly interviews conducted in public in front of a committee at the Scottish parliament so we all get to know what is going on.

Anonymous said...

No doubt the Scottish Gov, Cops,Councillors & other crooks will be rubbing their hands at this news

What's next for the chop?

Free prescriptions and the Council Tax freeze?

Anonymous said...

I suppose its completely out of the question Ms Agnew has had a 110% change of heart about FOI and the legal profession and has decided to uphold opening up FOI and openness across Scotland?

Seems not from what you wrote about the Masterman caper and it is at lest to me very sinister the SLCC have not been advertising for a new Chief Executive if Agnew wants another job so quickly.

Dark forces at work again.

Anonymous said...

Yes its good to see the Record taking these stories to the readers.I would have thought the hootsmon would have been all over this because half their stuff nowadays is foi foi foi although as I see the shoe in for Dunion's job comes from the legal system maybe the paper doesnt want to upset the Law Society too much who will be very happy with Agnew or some other crony getting Dunion's job!

Anonymous said...

Cover up!

Anonymous said...

Seems odd someone like this should be given a job at foi unless as you said in the paper they want to shut it down.

Keep up the good work Peter!

Anonymous said...

15:33

Are you talking about the same SPCB who in a previous incarnation helped derail charges of rape & sexual assault being made against a member of staff at the Scottish Parliament?


I hope some of Cherbi's chums in the media do some more digging and expose some of the myths of Holyrood ie who exactly are the real shower of twats running the SP and what they get up to in their private lives.

*snort snort*

Anonymous said...

Well whatever is going on here the Chief Executive position at the SLCC must be crap if they have gone through all these people in three years.

Time to wind it up and put Peter in charge of regulation against crooked lawyers.At least we will see some real results against these leeches & parasites from the legal fraternity!

Anonymous said...

Legal Reform campaigner Peter Cherbi, who had several requests knocked back by the SLCC, cast doubt over her suitability. He said : "How someone like that could be put in charge of openness is beyond me, unless they want to shut down openness and accountability."
==================================
It is like putting the Klu Klux Klan in charge of complaints from black people.

Spot on Peter, another example of them sitting on each others committees. If she is in charge it will be Freedom of Information excluding that which does not affect vested interests. It is clear anything to do with lawyers and others is rotten to the core with corruption.

Anonymous said...

Ms Agnew wrote : “..it is not within the SLCC’s remit to monitor individual claims made under the Master Policy".
==================================
There is NO compensation for victims of crooked lawyers. The only thing the SLCC are brilliant at is shuffling information about crooked lawyers and binning it. You know Ms Agnew the Scottish Legal Profession are simply above the law and you will simply make sure it stays that way in your new role.

A rotten network of evil.

Anonymous said...

Is this the way it usually works in Scotland where they manage to ruin the job before even getting the position?

Hardly any credibility in appointing someone to foi who has been rebuked by foi so many times.

Anonymous said...

Just what I said before Peter, where there is an office there will be cover ups, welcome to Scottish Dictatorship.

Anonymous said...

If Agnew does not get Dunion's job what use will she be to the SLCC if she has to stay there?
She'll always be known as the one who wanted to get away.

Incredible really the kind of manoeuvring going on here to get people onto each other's quangos and positions of power.

Anonymous said...

They probably selected the person BECAUSE they have been flouting Freedom of Information so much.

Also I'd like to ask why an obscure group of people at the Scottish Parliament are allowed to choose such a figure of public interest and importance?

This is all very wrong you know and its a good thing Peter and the Daily Record brought this into the public domain.

Anonymous said...

I have a freedom of Information refusal Peter but I will not appeal it. Offices have taught me one concrete fact, it is a waste of time, no letter war. I will put my tormentors names within the council in black on a white T shirt and go public. I will become a walking advert, better than dealing with corrupt officials. SLC Law Society victims need to do this too. Then the corrupt can take legal action and lie under oath.

South Lanarkshire Council employees victimised me an innocent tennant (I am not an employee) and a corrupt housing officer went along with it. A team leader then covered up what she did. At the last meeting with their manager she tried to whitewash everything.

So council employees and others tried to intimidate me out of my house dispite the fact I contacted the police about them accusing me of damaging cars, my accusers did not
contact the police and neither did the housing officer who knew they were liars. The police vindicated me.

People need to learn a £15.00 T shirt, eg (SLC Protect Corrupt Housing Officers) (Lawyer A stole my money) (SLCC Protect Corrupt Lawyers) providing they have written evidence to substantiate it, go public, you will find support instead of banging your head against a wall where A, protects B protects C. Office workers are a cancer, against justice when their own colleagues reputations are on the line, they will crucify innocent people.

I have got to a stage I do not care what they do, better going public than being tormented by people who are 200% against you when they know you are innocent.

The NHS taught me going public is the only way against NHS cover up managers liars.

Anonymous said...

Good on the Daily Record.

Anonymous said...

£15,000 CONFISCATED FROM BENEFITS CHEAT

At Ayr Sheriff Court today, a Confiscation Order for £15,000 was made against Colin Cruikshanks (DOB 25-12-1968).

Cruikshanks, from Coylton, Ayrshire, had previously pled guilty to benefit fraud after wrongly claiming incapacity benefit while he working. Sentence has been deferred until 17 January 2012.

Lindsey Miller, Head of the Serious and Organised Crime Division and the COPFS POCA Champion, said:

"Colin Cruikshanks lied about his circumstances to over claim incapacity benefit over a period of more than four years. In committing these crimes, he obtained funds from the public purse to which he was not entitled.

"We will continue to use Proceeds of Crime legislation to target anyone that would seek to benefit from their crimes. This case should be a warning to those who think that targeting public funds is an easy option, and a reminder that the legislation covers a wide range of offences where there has been financial benefit."

----------------------------------
Bad boy Colin, if you held an LLB degree there would have been insufficient evidence against you.

Anonymous said...

What a vile world we live in.

Anonymous said...

Bloody world, no one would come into it if they knew what it was like.

Anonymous said...

Comments containing the names of law firms, solicitors & others may not always be published but they will be noted & investigated.

Quite right Peter I thank you for publishing names of solicitors before. They are a rotten profession and no doubt will be sharpening their legal wits to try and outsmart campainers after the Tugendhat ruling and no doubt old Arthur Hamilton will be trying to protect his subordinates.

These bastards oversee court proceedings, they are fit only for prison.

Anonymous said...

Scottish Criminal Cases Review files are still blocked on the Lockerbie Case, to protect MacAskill and his legal cronies.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

Master Policy again - its poison to anyone who touches it. the problem is that no one can touch it, a Master policy to keep money.


All of it is poison, the Scottish Parliament, and other structures of the state and of course lawyers more poison than a pit vipers venom.

Anonymous said...

The English must be having a laugh at this one - only in Scotland could they choose someone who has been castigated by the Information Commissioner to fill his post!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
15:33

Are you talking about the same SPCB who in a previous incarnation helped derail charges of rape & sexual assault being made against a member of staff at the Scottish Parliament?


I hope some of Cherbi's chums in the media do some more digging and expose some of the myths of Holyrood ie who exactly are the real shower of twats running the SP and what they get up to in their private lives.

*snort snort*

9 January 2012 21:34

I for one would like to know more about this!

Anonymous said...

There's little doubt an independent Scotland will mean a censored Scotland if we are getting people like this stuffed into positions such as information commissioner.

Anyway it does not surprise me as I have never had much faith in that waste of space at Holyrood and all in it who are in it for their own ends not ours.

Anonymous said...

Is this place still open?

Anonymous said...

Thanks to Mr Cherbi for the mention of his name today getting me out of an argument with my lawyer about his non existent applicatin for legal aid and the bastard was trying to charge me too thought it was too good to be true he said all my money would be refudnded by slab not a chance I knew it after reading about you in the paper and telling him he was full of the same as the Lockhart solicitor

Anonymous said...

Does this mean that Rosemary Agnew has already been given the sack at the SLCC for bringing it into disrepute and she is being shoed-into the FOI Commissioners job, so that she can save face and still continue acting against the Scottish Public?

Anonymous said...

Surely Scotland has had enough of the SLCC and Rosemary Agnew?

The Game's a bogey!

No one in their right mind will ever trust the SLCC again, as it is designed to torture and humilliate the client victim and to keep crooked Scottish lawyers harming the public.

Anonymous said...

I k now someone who works at the slcc and she says every time Peter writes a feature about them you can cut the air in the office with a knife!

They hate his guts!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

I know someone who works at the slcc and she says every time Peter writes a feature about them you can cut the air in the office with a knife!

They hate his guts!
=================================
I like your comment but lets face it those who hate Peter's guts would be doing the same as Peter in his shoes. How immature are they, when people are ruined by lawyers and they expect us to roll over and die.

Self regulation creates a bad attitude like a child who does want he wants and is not told off. The SLCC are just immature brats who think lawyer criminality is fine. These people do more damage to the profession as a whole.

I mean if there are any honest lawyers out there they do not light up like beacons, how the hell do we know if they are honest or dishonest. The Law Societies and SLCC are so blinded by prejudice they are actually becoming an asset to us, because no one trust them.

Oh I hate The Law Societies and SLCC too. Good man Peter, give em hell.

Anonymous said...

It is personally very disappointing to see Scotland under the control of people who are doing these kinds of things.

Anonymous said...

Agnew did not respond to requests for a comment.

LOL!

Too busy making sure she's still in with a chance!

Who are the competition?A bunch of ex cops and quango jobsbodies?

Anonymous said...

We can monitor Master Policy, not by monitoring payouts etc, just tell the public a lawyer can ruin you AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET ANY COMPENSATION.

This report is more proof that ONLY CLIENTS CAN MONITOR THE SLCC, LAW SOCIETY. They are all mendcaious scumbags, legal robbers who hide behind their friends. That is why Agnew will replace Dunion.

Office crime is less latent, cannot be recorded on CCTV.

Anonymous said...

When they were doing the interviews did she sit there and tell them all about this or was it laughed about by all present?

I can imagine most politicians in Scotland are people hating thugs just out to pick up their mega wages expenses etc for doing bugger all.

What about the person Agnew left in the lurch on the insurance claim?

Just terrible really

Anonymous said...

They hate his guts!

10 January 2012 18:24
===================================

Truth Hurts the wicked!

If this is true, it just goes to show the morals and character of the people employed by the SLCC.

If your friend wants to sleep at night and wants to serve Scotland, then ask her to be a mole and expose these crooks.

I know for example that the SLCC & the LSS have been complicent in commiting criminal offences to protect a solicitor from being prosecuted, which would lead to an unholy hornets nest of wider criminality leading to arrests in high places!

Anonymous said...

Why can Scotland not have honest Civil Servants and bona fide institutions.

The depths of depravity and corruption Scotland has stooped to is mindboggling.

We must be the most corrupt country on the planet per head of population?

Anonymous said...

So why dont you stand for her old job at the SLCC?If you are even just half as good as you write the SLCC will become a shining example of how to get rid of "crooked lawyers" from the profession once and for all.

Although I suppose if Agnew does get the FOI job they will have already selected someone for her old job so its probably not worth trying.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who knows will tell you the SLCC was created to stop Mr Cherbi in his tracks rather than allowing his brand of independent regulation to take a foothold.

So let there be no doubt about this.Around €15 million pounds spent by lawyers and Scottish Executive on stopping Peter Cherbi and any prospect of ending lawyers regulating themselves.

Glad to see he is still writing in spite of it all.

Anyone the lawyers & politicians spend €15 million fighting against must he worth listening to.

Anonymous said...

She must know the way the wind is blowing on the SLCC and decided to jump before it is scrapped

Anonymous said...

last comment - I think you will find Peter wont touch the SLCC with a barge pole.He's already said it many times before and anyway it was set up from the beginning to be a front for the Law Scoeity

About the 15million spent well it just goes to show no amount of money can defeat the truth so there!

Anonymous said...

Agnew has knocked back more decisions than just from you, you can check them out on the foi website.

Anonymous said...

After I read the part about her being chosen by msps it all made sense.

Its like being selected by a bunch of criminals to do their bidding..

Watch FOI go downhill faster than an Austrian Olympic skier..

Anonymous said...

So why dont you stand for her old job at the SLCC?If you are even just half as good as you write the SLCC will become a shining example of how to get rid of "crooked lawyers" from the profession once and for all.

11 January 2012 13:02
-----------------------------------

Never mind Peter doing the job better....

I bet you I could find 10,000 people who could do a better job for the Scottish public....

Now where's that old phone book, its kicking about here somewhere...

Anonymous said...

must admit I was never one who had much faith in foi however you have increased my interest with your own investigations and this story in the record about who they want to put in to replace the man in charge of it all is an eye opener.

will be watching to see how it all ends up!

Anonymous said...

Cronyism on the go as usual oh yes its Scotland so this is normal of course everyone sits on each other's committees and quangos to lock it all down.

Funny I thought this kind of thing wasnt supposed to happen under the SNP?

Anonymous said...

A senior solicitor and his wife who cheated their employers out of £100,000 to pay for holidays, cosmetic surgery and designer shopping sprees were facing jail today.

Partner Richard Simkin, 59, and office manager Zakia Sharif, 47, made bogus expense claims over three years while working for international law firm Fulbright & Jaworski.

The couple - who own a £1.5 million home in Holland Park - billed the firm for stays in hotels in Mexico City and Hong Kong while falsifying invoices to show the huge sums were for recruitment agencies.

Sharif, who was earning £95,000 a year, also claimed for cosmetic skin treatment at a Harley Street clinic, Smythson handbags and a £2,400 signed photo of boxer Muhammad Ali. Other claims included £1,400 for Deschamps silk sheets.

The couple kept their relationship secret after Sharif - who falsely claimed to have two degrees and a legal qualification - was hired on Simkin's recommendation in 2005. They maintained the pretence even after they married in Mauritius in 2007.

Simkin admitted false accounting and fraud but his wife pleaded not guilty and went on trial yesterday at the Old Bailey. Today, she changed her pleas and admitted all but two of the seven charges she faced, after Judge John Bevan QC told her she would serve a maximum prison term of 18 months.

She and her husband, who both claimed legal aid, are also likely to be ordered to pay substantial fines, costs and compensation, he added. "In my view those who are greedy should be punished financially," the judge said.

Sharif was hired in early 2005 based on claims that she had two law degrees from King's College London. Three days after being sacked in 2008, she was hired by rival firm Holman Fenwick & Willan on a salary of £160,000 after again lying about her qualifications.

Sharif admitted obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, false accounting and fraud. She was found not guilty of concealing criminal property and acquiring criminal property on the directions of the judge. Simkin admitted three counts of false accounting and one of fraud.

He has been struck off as a solicitor and Sharif is barred from working as a legal executive.

Anonymous said...

It is a pity Mr Dunion cannot stay on for another term.Anyway there are obviously problems ahead if someone like Agnew gets the role unless as someone else said she has a massive change of heart.

She may have had more credibility for the post if she had resigned from the SLCC and confessed its sins.

Doubt the latter would happen of course and maybe the Scottish parly did choose her because she likes to ink out all the gritty details!

Anonymous said...

Interesting one Peter I think you have probably done us all a favour exposing this one.Where do you get all your info from anyway? and why doesnt Rupert Murdoch give you a job?hahaha

Keep up the good work mister

Anonymous said...

The remarkable thing to me is you are still alive after 7 years of writing about some of the biggest crooks in Scotland

Fair play to you Peter!

Anonymous said...

Peter was very wise to stay out of the SLCC because he always knew it was going to be a failure so he wont go anywhere near it now!
They have had their try it was all a fraud to begin with and should end with all these board members and lawyers being made to pay back every penny to the public purse.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
..it was all a fraud to begin with and should end with all these board members and lawyers being made to pay back every penny to the public purse.

11 January 2012 22:25
-----------------------------------

Exactly, so why don't the Police go in there with their bovver boots on to protect the people?

Anonymous said...

The Following is about self regulation as well as government.

According to the philosopher John Stuart Mill "the first lesson of civilisation [is] that of obedience" and he speaks of "the two states of the inclinations....one the desire to exercise power over others; the other....disinclination to have power exercised over themselves". This is the reason they tenaciously hold on to self regulation. It is against the principle of universality and it must end. To have rights someone in a position of power has to act. If lawyer A will not act against lawyer B to help lawyer B's ruined client and the Law Society cover everything up the rightless remain rightless. Self regulation is no regulation, it is against the principles of natural justice.

Ms Agnew we know what you all are, but you can be sure of this, we will destroy the cover up culture of this system of offices where you have no respect for the people you make money from.

We know the internet is our only means of fighting back and your collective attitudes towards clients is destroying you all. If the Law Society and SLCC hate Peter Cherbi it demonstrates how childish you really are, what would you in Peter's shoes? You all have to grow up and face the fact self regulation is on the way out.

Anonymous said...

Why the refusal to monitor the person's claim to this master policy if they are already allowed to do it in law?

Is she afraid of what she will find out?If so not much use at freedom of information is she..

Anonymous said...

Solicitors From Hell 2

To The Law Societies on the UK. You want the public to trust you criminals? Try this prescription.

First, stop stealing clients money! Next, start operating as an ethical industry. This advice goes out to lawyers, their buddies on judicial benches and all others who comprise the legal industry yet routinely operate outside laws and a legal system which only theoretically provides protections to the public that finances this racket. And this “advice” doesn’t come at £200.00 per hour!

Honesty as the best policy is a passé concept. Attempting justice via the legal system is one of the most effective experiences for learning this reality. Our column Probate and Switch is always a favorite regarding this point.

Someone we know often uses the phrase “pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered.” This point too has applicability when lawyers start considering their value.

I will add this, you have more chance of justice by avoiding lawyers, a network of out of touch deviant evil criminals.

Anonymous said...

Salmond's lot will throw more millions at the SLCC to save their LLB bastards.

Anonymous said...

Some people may think I am over the top but a profession that are responsible for client suicides are as evil as Heinrich Himmler, leader of the Nazi SS.

As I have said before only the public can monitor lawyer activity, and we must because there criminals are have to be forced the change their ways.

Anonymous said...

The campaign against these criminals is certainly expanding Peter thanks to you and others. It is vital we all keep up the good work and you can be sure I will do my bit.

Great blog.

All the best.

Anonymous said...

The more I read on internet blogs the more I realise Lawyers are gutter trash, and it seems their professional unions are in a state of denial. They look at evidence against a lawyer and feel sick, but not for the client.

Anonymous said...

Once again the Eton tory toff public schoolboy twat tells the peasants its going to be years of more austerity measures while he swans off to the Lord Mayors banquet swilling down the best of bubbly and nosh while assuring the freemason swindling wide boys who run the city, that under his watch they will have free rein to run amok with the economy .

They prop themselves up while the rest of us suffer under more tyrannical rule by a bunch of vile public school numpties whose only reason to live is to take care of their rich backers while enslaving the rest of the country and planet. If there is NO MONEY then why are so many in the South of England living in luxurious mansions and in vast opulence ? Osborne and his devious parners in crime within the tory party can't justify austerity of the masses while there are more millionaires and billionaires than ever before in the UK thanks to these smug bastards policies. They are returning Britain to the victorian era were a few ultra rich ruled over the impoverished peasants BUT ONLY IF WE LET 'EM.

Anonymous said...

Do these people have any credibility after all your investigations?