Lawyer at centre of Scotland Yard race war is convicted conman with suspect legal qualifications

Scotland Yard is embroiled in a damaging race war which has left its leadership in meltdown.

Yesterday yet another senior Asian official was preparing a claim against the embattled Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair.

Yasmin Rehman, who has been off work with stress for the last 12 months, claims she has been subjected to racist bullying and victimisation during her time working at the Yard.

Her action is the fifth to be launched against the Met, Britain's biggest force, by ethnic-minority officers or staff, and campaigners claim more are lining up to follow suit.

This follows the 'suspension' this week of Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who is claiming £1.2million for race discrimination.

Today, in an extraordinary and disturbing twist, the Daily Mail can reveal that the flamboyant lawyer at the centre of the campaign which is tearing Scotland Yard apart is a convicted conman with suspect legal qualifications.

Dr Shahrokh Mireskandari - who acts for Mr Ghaffur, Miss Rehman and also represents Commander Ali Dizaei who has been a repeated thorn in the side of his employers - has a criminal conviction for fraud and obtained his law degree from a discredited 'mail drop' university in Hawaii.

In addition, we can reveal that he is currently at the centre of a worldwide inquiry into his past by the UK solicitors' watchdog.

Last night Mireskandari - who has publicly vowed to destroy Sir Ian's 'golden circle' of white officers - refused to comment when confronted with questions about his past, including a series of allegations which will send shock waves through the legal establishment.

The Mail can reveal that Mireskandari:

• Is being investigated by the Solicitors' Regulation Authority after doubts were raised over his legal qualifications.
• Was convicted of a telemarketing fraud in California in 1991. He was given three years' probation, sentenced to three months on a 'criminal justice work release programme', forced to live a halfway hostel with fellow convicts and ordered to pay back nearly $7,000 to his known victims.
• Acquired his American legal degree from a tinpot 'university' run from a small office in Hawaii, which was shut down over fears it was peddling bogus qualifications.
• Is the subject of a number of complaints from former clients who claim he charges vastly inflated fees.

Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable, who has campaigned on behalf of a constituent involved in a marathon dispute with Mireskandari, said: 'This story is a shocking indictment of the failure of the legal profession to discipline its members and protect consumers.

'I have been trying for four years to get this matter properly investigated by the Law Society, Legal Services Ombudsman and the Legal Complaints Service.

'It has required the intervention of a national newspaper to get it properly investigated.'

When confronted by the Mail, Mireskandari - who claims to have a BSc (Hons), MA (Hons) and JD (Hons) - repeatedly refused to answer a series of simple questions about his education and criminal past.

He declared: 'I am of no public interest' when asked to say which law school had awarded him his American law degree, the JD.

The Iranian-born lawyer was similarly reticent when asked if he had informed the Law Society of his criminal conviction which involved ripping off clients of a telemarketing firm and when asked to comment over allegations he charges his clients inflated fees.

Clients: Yasim Rehman, Asst Comm Tarique Ghaffur and Comm Ali Dizaei

In the latest race claim against the Yard, Yasmin Rehman is being backed by the National Black Police Association, for whom Mireskandari is the official solicitor on 'employment matters'.

Details of her alleged claim were leaked just 24 hours after Met Assistant Commissioner Ghaffur was effectively suspended following his televised press conference last month, when he sat next to Mireskandari and the pair made a series of explosive claims about Sir Ian.

The decision to relieve Mr Ghaffur of his duties has prompted huge political in-fighting.

Other cases involved Commander Shabir Hussain, who accused Sir Ian of being racist after he was turned down for promotion four times, and Detective Sergeant Gurpal Virdi, who was awarded £150,000 in 2000 for race discrimination after he was unfairly dismissed when wrongly accused of sending race hate mail to himself.

He was later paid a further £90,000 for 'injury to his feelings'.

Opponents point out that politically-correct Sir Ian, who has 18 months left on his five-year contract, might well have created many of these problems for himself through his relentless championing of diversity and his own weak leadership.

However Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is known to be concerned that the endless squabbling is damaging the Office of Commissioner and is a time-consuming distraction.