Ex-councillor given suspended sentence for forgery, pretending to be barrister

A former councillor who pleaded guilty to forging her qualifications and claiming to be a qualified barrister, has been sentenced to 14 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years.

Monika Juneja was a councillor at Guildford Borough Council until elections last month. She also previously worked for a number of local authorities.

She pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last month to three counts of forgery, one charge of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception and one charge of wilfully pretending to be a barrister.

Juneja has been ordered to complete 200 hours of community service in addition to the suspended sentence.
 
Jaswant Narwal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS South East, said: “This deception is one that dates back over 14 years and during that time, Monika Juneja never let her academic failings get in the way of what she wanted to achieve. She claimed to be a barrister over many years, despite never having actually qualified or being entitled to call herself a barrister in any context.
 
 “After she first failed to achieve the qualifications she needed to attend law school in London, she forged a letter claiming to be from the University of Greenwich, saying she had achieved the required results. Monika Juneja then failed to pass her Bar exams, but continued her deception by forging another letter from the law school she had attended, stating she had passed.”

Narwal added: “These falsified qualifications were used repeatedly on CVs and applications, meaning Monika Juneja was able to gain a variety of jobs, all of which were more highly paid than they otherwise would have been, because of the inaccurate information she gave her potential employers.
 
“She continued the deception when she stood as a councillor in the May 2011 local elections, referring to herself as a barrister. Constituents complained that she had misrepresented herself, which led to the official investigation and, in the face of overwhelming evidence from the prosecution, she finally admitted her deception.”