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SHAMED ex-Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was struck off as a solicitor today for having lied to avoid a speeding conviction.
She was jailed for perverting the course of justice last year by claiming that someone else had been driving her car.
A number of allegations were found proven by the three-member panel at the solicitors’ disciplinary tribunal in central London, meaning the former Peterborough MP can no longer practise as a regulated solicitor.
In mitigation, Ms Onasanya told the panel that the speeding incident did not have a “negative effect” on anybody, despite her having falsely named her brother’s friend — who was abroad — as the driver.
Panel chairman Edward Nally said: “As a parliamentarian makes the law, so a solicitor must uphold the law and rule of law and, sadly, in this case Ms Onasanya has failed in those duties.”
The tribunal found that she acted dishonestly, failed to act with integrity and failed to behave in a way that maintains the public’s trust.
Ms Onasanya was ordered to pay £6,562 to cover the costs of the prosecution by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
The SRA had applied for £22,762, saying that the case had taken 40 hours to prepare. Mr Nally reduced it after saying he had “anxiety about the numbers of hours that have been claimed.”
Ms Onasanya served 28 days of a three-month prison sentence and continued to sit as an MP — and receive her £77,379 salary — despite being expelled from the Labour Party.
She lost an appeal against her conviction in March. In June Labour’s Lisa Forbes succeeded her in a by-election after Ms Onasanya was ejected from her seat by a recall petition.