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Solicitor struck off over sham $700k insurance claim
An ACT solicitor who faked injuries to obtain a hefty insurance claim has been struck off the roll of legal practitioners.
Naomi Neilson
Seven years after he was found guilty and sentenced for attempting to dishonestly obtain a financial advantage, the Supreme Court of the ACT removed Amadu Bangura’s name from the roll.
“The offence itself was one of dishonesty and, combined with what followed, may be likened to an attempt to pervert the course of justice. It demonstrates a defect in character incompatible with membership of the legal profession,” the bench said.
Following a minor car accident in March 2015, lawyers for Bangura lodged a $700,000 insurance claim for personal injuries, including for pain in his right hip and back, severe headaches, shock, and anxiety. He claimed he had been unable to return to work.
Bangura claimed the injuries meant he could not sit for more than 20 minutes at a time, but the insurance company and courts would soon learn that “nothing could have been further from the truth”.
Following a 10-day hearing in June 2017, Bangura was sentenced to two years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of nine months.
The guilty finding was upheld on appeal, but he was resentenced to one year and nine months imprisonment, to be served as an intensive corrections order, along with community service hours.
In the Local Court, the presiding magistrate said Bangura’s evidence was, at times, “just plain dishonest”, and made findings that he falsely represented his injuries to the doctors who examined him for the purpose of preparing reports to the insurance company.
In intercepted phone calls, Bangura denied to his solicitor that he was still working at a firm on the Law Society’s records. Soon afterwards, he called the firm and told the person who answered that if anyone were to call and ask if he worked there, they were to respond with: “I will have to get back to you on this one, I’m not sure.”
During the criminal hearing, the presiding judge said this demonstrated Bangura “well knew that he was working and when he told doctors and other people he was not, he was dishonest”.
When legal disciplinary proceedings began, Bangura attempted to throw his solicitor under the bus. First, he claimed he “merely signed the claim form” that was largely prepared by the solicitor.
He also raised separate unrelated criminal proceedings against the solicitor in what appeared to be a “clear attempt to distance the respondent from the making of the fraudulent claim”.
Justices Mossop, McWilliam and Ainslie-Wallace added parts of Bangura’s submissions “leave no doubt that at that point, the respondent was far from admitting to all his criminality”.
“The dishonesty with the compounding lies to professionals and to the court, which commenced in pursuit of monetary gain, was prolonged and persistent,” they said.
“Even at a time when his sentence had been reduced to a sentence that was to be served other than by full-time custody, the respondent continued to assert his innocence and sought the conviction be quashed in the Court of Appeal.
“His attempt to suborn the person at the solicitor’s office where he worked to lie on his behalf only makes his conduct all the more egregious.”
The case is Law Society (ACT) v Bangura [2024] ACTSCFC 1 (30 October 2024).
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
