THE senior partner of a law firm Raleys bought two apartments in a ski resort while his firm was making millions from miners' compensation claims.
Ian Firth, suspended this week over the way his firm handled the claims, opened a business in the tax haven of Luxembourg for the purpose.
The firm, Gets Prince SA, was formed in April 2004 in the European country which is known for its strict laws on banking secrecy.
Yesterday Mr Firth, 60, said Gets Prince was formed to buy two apartments in a French ski resort. He said: "They are used by my family and me a few weeks of the year and the rest of the time they are let."
Earlier in the week Mr Firth, who lives in the exclusive Sheffield suburb of Fulwood, had been told by the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal he must serve a four-year suspension for the way Raleys handled thousands of compensation claims which earned the firm £78m.
Full story and background in this week's Chronicle
