The Fiji Court of Appeal has determined that the Commissioner of the Independent Legal Services Commission acted appropriately in removing Suva lawyer Suresh Chandra from the list of legal practitioners, shutting down his law firm, MC Lawyers, and imposing a $500,000 fine against him.
Mr. Chandra, who previously served as the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, was convicted on December 8, 2021, on six counts of professional misconduct.
The Commissioner found that Mr. Chandra had irresponsibly placed the full burden of managing trust account cheques on an employee, Ashwini Prasad. The ruling stated that his lack of oversight allowed Ms. Prasad to manipulate the cheques by changing the amounts and adjusting the corresponding words, which constituted gross negligence.
Justices Chandana Prematilaka, Pamela Andrews, and Gus Andrée Wiltens emphasized the seriousness of Chandra’s inaction, noting that it was not merely a delegation of his fiduciary duties, but a complete failure to fulfill his obligations. They highlighted that the cheques were issued from a trust account holding clients’ funds, irrespective of the payee details.
The ruling pointed out the extent of the clients’ losses and underscored that Chandra’s violations of trust account responsibilities were not isolated incidents but ongoing problems. The court characterized these breaches as extremely serious, warranting a significant response.