Muslim Votes Matter spokesman Ghaith Krayem struck off solicitors’ roll

Muslim Votes Matter’s spokesman Ghaith Krayem was struck off as a solicitor by the NSW Law Society for a string of “very serious” misleading and professional misconduct breaches.

Mr Krayem, who shot to national prominence after describing the Federal Labor Government as clearly afraid of his political movement, had his name removed from the solicitors’ roll after being found to have committed 15 offences under the Legal Profession Act, including creating false documents to deceive clients.

MVM has been harnessing the anger of the nation’s Muslim community over the perceived inaction of the Federal Government on the “2023-24 War on Palestine” and the “increase” of Islamophobia in Australia.

However, details have come to light about an Administrative Decisions Tribunal ruling which said Mr Krayem’s offences as a solicitor were “collectively and in several cases individually very serious…”

The 2004 ADT ruling shone a light on the actions of Mr Krayem when he was practising as a solicitor in NSW including: not paying client money into his trust account as required; delaying the payment of client funds into his trust account by up to five months which the ADT found “manifests a high degree of recklessness”; and withdrawing more than $1900 in client trust money to pay for his office rent, which Mr Krayem had blamed on a bank clerk error but the ADT found was unsatisfactory professional conduct.

The 18-page ruling obtained by The Nightly found he had made statements misleading clients by telling them documents had been filed when they had not, and he had engaged in a “grossly inordinate delay” in paying other counsel appearing on his instructions.

Other breaches were listed as serious deception including faking a photocopy of a land title to show clients they were the owners of the land when Mr Krayem had not transferred the land as required.

The ADT found he altered dates on the land transfer document related to property purchase to avoid paying late stamp duties. The ADT found that was a “serious deception and clearly constituted professional misconduct”.

Mr Krayem did not provide a defence or take part in the proceedings against him.

The ADT found Mr Krayem’s decision to take no part in the proceedings meant the material allegations of the Law Council were more readily accepted but also that “we were left without any explanation for the Solicitor’s conduct, or any indication of recognition by him of the unacceptability of his conduct”.

Mr Krayem gave his first interviews this week about the MVM movement, which its website says has been set up to provide political advocacy on matters of significance to the Muslim community and to increase voter literacy and participation.

The MVM says it is a “collective of politically engaged Australian Muslims working in the best interests of our community and its potential “voting bloc is the most valuable yet under-utilised assets, we have”.

It also asks for volunteers to help and says there are more than 20 seats where the Muslim community collectively has the potential deciding vote.

Mr Krayem, who has worked for Australia Post in human resources, now runs a consultancy business called Hikmah Consulting.

His LinkedIn profile shows is he is still listed as the President of the Islamic Council of Victoria although it is understood he has resigned from that position.

His profile also says he has been the CEO of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, the CEO of the AFIC Halal Authority and the Vice President of the Jewish Christian Muslim Association, an organisation that claims to bring together the three Abrahamic faiths in a spirit of cooperation and harmony.

Mr Krayem has posted that he undertook his Bachelor of Laws at The Australian National University and also a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney.

A spokeswoman for Muslim Votes Matter said Mr Krayem’s history with the Law Society was of no relevance to the organisation.

“The organisation is bigger than one person, and it has no relevance to what we are trying to achieve,” she said.

The spokeswoman said Mr Krayem declined to comment.