A north-east lawyer who was jailed for carrying out a £50,000 legal aid fraud has been recruited by a charity to give a lecture on how to “access funds.”
Mark Strachan was jailed for two years after being found guilty of 341 separate frauds against the Scottish Legal Aid Board.
But now, Gordon Rural Action is charging people £25 to hear him speak in Inverurie later this year.
An advert claims he has a “varied job history” and a “mass of legal knowledge.”
Sandy Mitchell, who serves on the board of the charity, said his past was not regarded as a “big deal.”
He said: “He’s made no secret of his background at all.
“He came to us as a volunteer having served his sentence and offered his extensive knowledge to us.
“We don’t regard it as a big deal because his charitable work has no access to funds and it’s simply passing on knowledge to the public, under supervision.”
Scottish Conservative Justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: “It is clearly inappropriate for an advocate with this chequered history to be offering advice on accessing funds.”
North-east fraud lawyer to give lecture on how to “access funds”
