A LEIGH solicitor and three members of his staff were involved in systematically defrauding the Legal Aid Board out of more than £1million, a court has heard.

They exploited the system of free surplus EEC meat and butter for people on benefits by helping voluntary organisations to distribute the food and having thousands of people unwittingly sign 'green forms' requesting legal advice, it was alleged.

The scam allowed sums to be claimed from the Legal Aid fund on an 'audacious scale'. Where necessary signatures were forged on the bogus files, it was claimed.

There was no evidence that any legal advice about welfare benefits was ever given to those in whose name these claims were made, alleged Peter Openshaw QC, prosecuting.

In the dock at Liverpool Crown Court are Gary Grosberg, 44, of Barnhill Avenue, Prestwich, Manchester; Francis Jones 60, of Orchard Lane, Leigh, and David Levy 57, of Kersal Crag, Salford.

At the start of what is expected to be an eight-week trial, Mr Openshaw said Grosberg was the founder and senior partner in Grosberg and Co., which had offices in Leigh and Bolton.

He said police found more than 17,000 welfare benefit forms involving a total of £1,108,577. Police also found documents relating to another 4,000 claims in the pipeline, he claimed.

The firm's receipts for welfare benefit advice rose from £,8000 in 1988/89 to £460,000 in 1993/94. In five years the company received £1.1 million in receipt of 14,000 'green forms', only some of which were genuine claims.

Grosberg's drawings from the company for 1993/94 were £100,000, he said. This was not earned money, he said. Nor was it, as Grosberg maintained, the result of aggressive marketing of the welfare benefit advice scheme, he claimed.

The trio deny conspiring together with Jones's deceased wife, Theresa Jones, between April 1, 1989 and April 21,1994 to defraud the Legal Aid Board by falsely representing that claims made on Legal Aid Green Forms were good and proper. Grosberg, who qualified as a solicitor in 1979, set up business as a sole practitioner in Railway Road, Leigh in 1984, the court was told.

In 1988 he set up the welfare department offering advice on a variety of topics including benefit entitlement.

As the work of this department grew a second office was opened in Railway Road to where the welfare department was moved, and in 1993 a branch of the company was opened in Great Moor Street, Bolton.

When matters came to light Grosberg had two other solicitors working for him, one a salaried partner, neither of whom played any part in the fraud he said. Grosberg, the driving force behind the businesses, took a keen interest in all its work and knew everything that was going on, claimed Mr Openshaw.

Jones, who has no legal qualifications, had considerable experience and expertise in welfare matters.

He was recruited by Grosberg when setting up the welfare department and had day to day control, he claimed.

Grosberg needed an effective administrator in the welfare department and Levy, who joined in 1992, had extensive business experience and was related to Grosberg's wife.

He was in control of supervising and controlling staff, he alleged.

Jones and Levy were on a salary with a bonus depending on the turnover in the department, he said.

Jones's wife was an active participant in the fraud, which continued to flourish after her sudden death in November 1993.

Grosberg maintained that if there was a fraud it happened without his knowledge or consent, he said.

The case continues.

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