Indian Lawyer struck off in UK over Sham Marriages Conviction

An Indian lawyer has been barred from practising in the UK over his conviction in orchestrating sham marriages and submitting bogus applications to help migrants enter the UK.

Mathew Chellam was said to have “spun a veritable web of lies and deceits” in which he provided a package of “false and fictitious” evidence to the Home Office.

Chellam, who was jailed in 2016, has now been struck off after a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) found his actions caused “tremendous harm to the reputation of the legal profession”.

He worked as a legal advocate in India.

In 2013, after applying for a Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme, he was admitted to the UK roll of solicitors.

Between April 2011 and August 2014, Chellam made fraudulent applications to the Home Office for Non-EEA (European Economic Area) residence permits intending to assist unlawful immigration.

Between October 2012 and January 2013, Chellam provided immigration advice and services, despite not been qualified to do so.

The lawyer also sought to avoid his removal from the UK when his leave to remain ended by telling the Home Office that he was in a legitimate marriage to a European woman.

In 2016, he was jailed for eight years.

Chellam made bogus applications for residence permits on behalf of illegal immigrants he advised as “clients” through Mathew Moghan & Co Advocates.

He submitted false paperwork to the Home Office, including fake birth certificates and wage slips from sham cleaning companies.

Chellam also arranged bogus weddings between Indian and French nationals, apparently taking place in Ghana.

Ghanaian law recognises “customary marriages” by proxy – in which the bride and/or the groom are not even required to attend.

Police carried out several raids in 2014, including one at the Maamala Restaurant in High Street North, East London.

During the raids, Chellam’s handwriting was found on a document.

Two secret offices were found at the rear of the restaurant where immigration records were seized bearing his law firm’s letterhead.

Also found were forged Ghanaian birth certificates along with genuine French identity documents.

Chellam was found guilty of assisting unlawful immigration to a member state, five counts of providing immigration advice without being qualified and seeking leave to remain by deception following trial earlier in July 2024.

Venkataramana Enugu and Jeykrishnan Murugesan were also convicted of seeking leave to remain by deception after being arrested in connection with the investigation.

Both Indian nationals had submitted applications on the basis of being in relationships with French women, along with wage slips purporting to prove they were employed by one of the cleaning companies. All three applied through Chellam.

Chellam organised “sham marriages between otherwise illegal immigrants and EU nationals” to breach immigration controls.

He carried out an “exploitation of the relatively informal arrangements which apply to customary marriages and proxy wedding ceremonies in Ghana”.

Chellam aimed to “abuse the UK immigration laws on the pretext that there was some kind of spousal connection”.

The court heard the lawyer was also “exploiting the rules” by creating “fiction” that his clients were eligible to remain in the UK as extended family members.

During his “sophisticated” method, Chellam “spun a veritable web of lies and deceits”.

Judge Oscar Del Fabbro told Snaresbrook Crown Court:

“A serious aggravating feature of these offences of which you have been unanimously convicted is that you were a lawyer at the time – purporting to provide legal services to clients who no doubt were paying handsomely for your corrupt services.”

Chellam has now been struck off the register.

The panel said: “Such conduct is a fundamental affront to a rule designed to safeguard the fairness and justice of proceedings by ensuring that only those who are subject to appropriate regulatory oversight are able to act on behalf of a potentially vulnerable class of consumers of legal services.

“A solicitor acting with integrity would not have committed a crime repeatedly.”

“The gravity of the offence was reflected in the [Mr Chellam’s] custodial sentence.

“The trust that the public places in solicitors, and in the provision of legal services, depends upon the reputation of the solicitors’ profession as one in which every member may be trusted to the ends of the earth.

“The conviction of a solicitor for a serious criminal offence leading to the imposition of a custodial sentence and attracting adverse publicity undermines the trust that the public places in solicitors and the provision of legal services.”

He was struck off the Roll of Solicitors and has also been ordered to pay £4,058 in costs.