NRI barrister received 1.1 million pounds in legal aid fees

LONDON: An NRI barrister, once probed for allegedly telling a client how to concoct an alibi, received more than 1.1 million pounds in criminal legal aid fees last year, the Ministry of Justice has revealed.

The 48-year-old head of Equity Chambers in Birmingham, Balbir Singh, who has never been promoted to the rank of Queen's Counsel (QC), earned more than the nine QCs on the list of ten highest-paid barristers in the United Kingdom.

Ten years ago, Singh was cleared of professional misconduct after a television programme falsely accused him of telling a client how to destroy evidence and concoct an alibi.

A Bar Council disciplinary tribunal gave him the clearance, ruling that recordings were "deliberately tampered with" and conversations edited to give a false impression.

More than 60 witnesses, including judges and QCs, gave evidence at the tribunal for Singh who began his career as a legal adviser in the magistrates' courts.

Three QCs -- Nigel Lithman, John Rees, and Oliver Blunt -- were each listed as receiving more than 900,000 pounds last year, while a further five were paid more than 700,000 pounds.

Four of the ten top-earning criminal barristers were from the same chambers -- 2 Bedford Row -- in London.

The Ministry of Justice has, however, stressed that the sums "represent work covering many years for a variety of cases".