bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

THOSE who want to trade dull jobs for days of legal drama in the High Court, but can't be bothered with the tiresome business of legal qualifications, can take heart.

  A man with no legal qualifications, claiming to be from chambers that don't exist, has managed to sit as a barrister in a complex High Court fraud hearing.

  This remarkable feat, was achieved in early August but revealed only last week, when the man's client came up for a bail hearing in the District Court.

  Judge Beeson was told the Crown was demanding the man's bail be extended partly because of an 'incident' that happened in the High Court with a 'non-existent' lawyer.

  The name of the accused man, a Nigerian national, cannot be revealed for legal reasons.

  The court was told a Nigerian man claiming to be a barrister had turned up to a hearing in chambers to freeze the man's assets, before Mr Justice Sears.

  But subsequent checks revealed 'the alleged barrister representing him was non-existent at the Nigerian Bar' according to the Crown lawyer. Not only was the man not a barrister, but the Lagos chambers he claimed to represent turned out not to exist either.

  The judge was handed a document outlining details but no further details were given in court.

  The accused man's own lawyers did not deny the allegation and he was not given bail.

  A judiciary spokesman said: 'The procedures for hearing overseas barristers remain unchanged.

  'There is no question of their being heard unless they are formally admitted.' 



Imposter appears as barrister in High Court fraud hearing