The Tribune

A LAWYER, disbarred 18 years ago after $400,000 allegedly went missing from a client’s account, is seeking readmission to the roll of the Bahamas Bar Council.

The council will hear Leon Smith’s application for restoration to the roll on October 30 and 31 at 3pm.This is pursuant to Section 41(1) of the Legal Profession Act. Any member of the Bar, those with objections or a desire to make representation are asked to attend the hearings, according to an advertisement by the Bahamas Bar Association.

Mr Smith had applied for readmission to the Bar in 2008 and in 2011.

Following that hearing in 2011, officers from the Central Detective Unit arrested and questioned Mr Smith over allegations of fraud as he left the premises.

At the time, a representative for Colina Insurance Ltd told the council how Mr Smith had allegedly incurred over $2.5 million in losses for Imperial Life by reportedly obtaining mortgages for himself and his clients, while acting as an attorney for Imperial Life in the negotiations. It is unclear how legal proceedings in that case unfolded.

Mr Smith was then reported by Colina to the Bar Association in 2004. However the company learned at the time that he had already been disbarred.

According to The Nassau Guardian, the Colina representative said: “The consideration for this council is the protection of the public, and it is for the greater good of society that the Bar must decide whether or not it’s for the good of society to allow Mr Smith to practice.

“And Colina Insurance says he should not be allowed to practice again because these are offences, acts of dishonesty and we have not been able to recover this money.”

In a 2003 judgment, Senior Justice John Lyons found that Mr Smith had fraudulently quieted land in Pinewood Gardens for John Sands.