Met race row lawyer suspended as Dizaei launches new case

THE lawyer at the centre of Scotland Yard's race row has been suspended from working as a solicitor.

Shahrokh Mireskandari, who represented former assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur in his race discrimination claim against the Met, has had his Marylebone offices raided and practice closed down by investigators from the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The 47-year-old has been under investigation by the SRA since it emerged this year that he was a convicted fraudster and had gained his law degree from a discredited Hawaiian "mail drop" university. His suspension comes as one of Mr Ghaffur's associates, Commander Ali Dizaei, launched a new race discrimination claim against acting commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and former commissioner Sir Ian Blair.

Mr Dizaei, president of the National Black Police Association, was suspended this year from duty and is accused of having an improper relationship with Mireskandari. But in legal papers seen by the Evening Standard, Mr Dizaei claims that Sir Paul, Sir Ian and Catherine Crawford, chief executive of the Metropolitan Police Authority, conspired to remove him from his job during the race claim brought by his friend Mr Ghaffur.

Mr Dizaei said that his writ, which is supported by the BPA, is being served by the firm Mel Goldberg and Company and is due to be lodged at a London tribunal today.

Mr Dizaei was suspended from his £90,000-a-year job on 17 September, the main reason given being that he unlawfully arrested a man after a row in a Kensington restaurant. He denies any wrongdoing and has said he was assaulted by the man.

His claim focuses on what the National and Met Black Police Association alleges is a bias in the way white officers facing disciplinary procedures are treated.

The association cites Cressida Dick who was promoted from commander to deputy assistant commissioner in 2006 even though she had been in charge of the operation that led to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and an inquest was two years in the offing.

Mr Dizaei was first suspended from the Met in 2001 over allegations of taking bribes, using drugs and prostitutes, and even spying for Iran. Operation Helios, the investigation into the claims, cost £3million and came to nothing.

Scotland Yard said it was aware of the new claim but could not comment. A spokesman said: "Whatever the allegations are they will be dealt with in the usual way."

The BPA is demanding that Mr Dizaei's case be made part of Boris Johnson's inquiry into the way race is handled by the Met. It wants Mr Johnson to bring the sides together to avoid a repeat of what it called the "Ghaffur pantomime" that was said to have cost taxpayers close to £1million, even though Ghaffur walked away with less than £300,000.

Mireskandari, who publicly vowed to destroy Sir Ian and his "golden circle" of white officers, now faces the prospect of financial ruin following the suspension of his practice.

Today SRA investigators were examining files obtained last night from the offices of his firm Dean & Dean and returning money to his clients.

Mireskandari, who has eight days to appeal the ban, has accused the SRA of conducting a racially motivated campaign against him and claims he is preparing a £10 million discrimination claim against the body.

Diana Mitchell, a director for the organisation Complaints Against Solicitors, action for Independent Adjudication (Casia), has advised several former clients of Mireskandari who claim that he ripped them off.

Ms Mitchell, who co-ordinated a demonstration outside the offices of Dean & Dean earlier this year, said: "Dr Mireskandari is an extremely dishonest and greedy man.

"His claims of racism are rubbish - most of his victims are Iranian, and because some speak little English, they would trust him. He's very plausible.

"The SRA should have acted much much sooner when it came out that he was a fraudster. Its terrible that they took so long. He had time to visit his offices and prepare for these investigators coming in."