Solicitor struck off for 2003 embezzlement

A solicitor who was jailed after embezzling more than £400,000 from an executry estate has been struck off the roll by the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal.

Michael Karus committed the offence between March and May 2003 while acting as executor in the estate of Ms A. He admitted taking £413,052.81. His practising certificate had been restricted by the tribunal in 2001 and he had not renewed it from the end of October 2002, but he remained on the roll. A judicial factor was appointed to his firm, Karus & Co in Edinburgh, in May 2003. He was suspended by the tribunal on another matter for 10 years from June 2005. An indictment was served in relation to the embezzlement in 2009, and in October of that year he was sentenced to three and a half years' imprisonment, discounted from five years due to an early guilty plea.

The tribunal was told that the delay in bringing the present complaint was due to an initial delay in the Crown Office reporting the offence to the Law Society of Scotland following Mr Karus's conviction in 2009. Enquiries required to be made with the police and Crown Office regarding the discounted plea, and Mr Karus then raised an action of judicial review in 2014.

Giving its decision, the tribunal stated that the charge of embezzlement was a very serious offence committed whilst the respondent was in a position of trust. The negative effect on the reputation of the profession would not have been negated by the money being subsequently repaid. It took account of the fact that the respondent had co-operated with the Society and had moved on with his life in the years since the offence was committed, but considered that the offence clearly demonstrated that he was not a fit person to be a solicitor. There was also no reason not to give the the usual named publicity.

Click here to view the tribunal's decision.