It is claimed that he could have benefitted from the fraud by up to £250,000.

58 year-old Derek Speed, from Canterbury, was charged last month and freed on bail to appear at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on June 10.

The regional paper, Peterborough Today, has reported that the solicitor faces eighteen charges – three counts of money laundering, three counts of possession of articles for use in fraud, possession of a false identity document and eleven counts of fraud by abuse of position.

According to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Speed was granted a practising certificate in May 2009, subject to the condition that he did not hold client money, and was “not a signatory to any office or client account cheques”.

The SRA said that this was due to an outstanding Judgment debt recorded against the solicitor in the Maidstone County Court.

The regulatory body added that Speed had been ordered to attend a course on the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct, stating: “It is considered to be in the interests of the public that Mr Speed is reminded of the rules pertaining to the requirement to hold a practising certificate whilst undertaking work reserved to a solicitor.”