^{So that's why Sharon was so quiet} 

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A solicitor has been struck off the roll for defrauding a cancer charity and council.

Kalvinder Garcha, and co-conspirator Lynn Middleton, created a fake employee at a Leicestershire council.

The phantom staffer was Middleton's sister, Sharon Reeve, who didn't work for the council and lived in Spain. The council paid her a purported salary, which she then transferred to her sister. 
Garcha and Middleton claimed that Reeve worked from home or attended the office when it was empty, and created emails and documents to cover their tracks.

The duo scammed the council out of around £37,600 for a two year period from 2012.In 2014, the council launched a new IT system, which prevented them from carrying on the scam.

The pair then defrauded a small local charity, Coping with Cancer, as Garcha was the chair and Middleton was a trustee. A fake invoice was submitted to the charity for services allegedly provided by Mrs Reeve from September to October 2014 totalling £3,675, despite her doing sweet FA for the charity. 

After Reeve received remuneration from the Council and the Charity, she then transferred funds from her bank account to her sister, Middleton, who then made large cash withdrawals which were paid to Ms Garcha. 

Following a hearing in 2021, the Leicester Crown Court sentenced Garcha to two years and six months in prison, while Middleton was jailed for one year and six months. 

In sentencing remarks, the judge lambasted Garcha and Middleton, saying that they "lied and misled colleagues" and that "some colleagues thought you were friends of theirs".

"Both of you created false documents and false paper trails or electronic trails promoting the falsehood that Sharon Reeve was working hard and deserving when in reality Sharon Reeve did not work at all,” said the judge.

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has now also heard the case. Regarding  Garcha defrauding the council, the SDT judgment noted that she had "reported to the senior management team at the Council about the invaluable contributions made" to the HR Team by Reeve, the fake employee. And that Garcha "had recommended that Mrs Reeve’s short-term contract be extended on four occasions".

In swindling the cancer charity, Garcha had "made others at the charity believe that Mrs Reeve was making a significant contribution of time and services to the charity."

The tribunal ordered that Garcha be struck off the roll. It made no order for costs on the basis that there was no prospect that Garcha (in light of her convictions) would be able to pay any costs to the SRA within a reasonable timescale. 

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