Monika Juneja — who claimed to be a barrister despite never having been called to the bar — to fight charges against her
A Conservative councillor who is awaiting trial for fraud after Legal Cheek spotted she’d used the title of “barrister” despite not having been called to the bar has pleaded not guilty to the eight charges against her.
At the Old Bailey on Friday, 36 year-old Monika Juneja denied three counts of forgery, one of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, three counts of fraud and one of wilfully pretending to be a barrister.
Juneja is alleged to have constructed false letters from the University of Greenwich and BPP Law School outlining qualifications that she did not hold.
It is also alleged that she pretended to be a barrister — acquiring legal roles at various councils — and that she provided recruitment agencies with untrue or misleading information about her CV, as well as supplying false qualifications to secure employment with Bromley Council.
According to the Crown Prosecution Service, the alleged offences took place between July 2000 and May 2014.
Juneja, who is a borough councillor in Guildford, was bailed until her trials begins on 11 May next year.
Previously:
Confusing rules governing use of ‘barrister’ title produce their most absurd result yet [Legal Cheek]