COMMENT Allow me to start from the very beginning. This is a long story, so please bear with me.

M Puravalen, (or Valen, as he is known to his colleagues), and I studied law together, at the Inns of Court, London, in 1980-81.

I have had a long and close relationship with Valen for the past 33 years. He has done nothing in that period of time that would make me suspect he was anything but a forthright and credible member of the legal profession...