A SOLICITOR is to face a disciplinary tribunal over allegations that his firm acted in fraudulent or suspicious road traffic accident claims.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided that Asghar Ali, who ran AA Solicitors Ltd on St Helens Road, Bolton, is to be prosecuted over activity which took place between February 2014 and June 2018.

It is not the first time Mr Ali, who is now registered as working at Fletcher Street-based Jacob Miller Ltd, has been in trouble.

Seven years ago an employment tribunal ordered 52-year-old Mr Ali and AA Solicitors Ltd to pay £20,000 in compensation to a young female lawyer who he had sexually harassed.

Married Mr Ali was said to have "turned" nasty" when the woman rejected his advances, making her redundant after she told him she had a boyfriend.

READ MORE: Solicitor ordered to pay £20,000 in compensation

Now Mr Ali is due to appear before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, which has the power to fine solicitors found to have acted wrongly or even suspend or ban them from practising.

The prosecution is being brought by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Tribunal has decided that Mr Ali does have a case to answer over his conduct relating to road traffic claims.

It states that while Mr Ali was the director and owner of AA Solicitors Ltd, between approximately February 2014 and June 2018, he "caused or allowed the firm to act in one or more road traffic accident claims which were fraudulent, or alternatively were suspicious and carried the hallmarks of a fraudulent claim, causing third-party insurers to pay costs and damages to the firm and the purported claimants". It is also alleged that Mr Ali fail to identify his accident clients by obtaining proof of identity and, between April 2016 and June 2018, failed to verify the identity of the source of accident referrals.

The allegations, which are, as yet, unproven, will be heard at a future date.