Two solicitors have been charged with multiple offences related to a series of high-value commercial mortgage frauds worth around £50m in total.
Mark Knights of Cheshire, 45, who worked at Manchester firm Mace & Jones at the time the frauds took place, appeared last Friday at the City of London Magistrates Court alongside Kamran Malik, 31, of Birmingham, who worked at Birmingham firm A&H Solicitors at the time of the frauds.
Neither defendant is currently employed by Mace & Jones or A&H Solicitors.
Both were charged with three counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception contrary to the Theft Act 1968. The proceedings will be transferred to Southwark Crown Court.
Malik’s solicitor Julian Linskill, senior partner of Liverpool firm Linskills, said that Malik will contest the charges.
He said: ‘While he has clearly been guilty of relatively minor breaches of regulations, that does not support any finding of criminality against him. He is confident he will be cleared of the allegations.’
Manchester firm Pannone, which is advising Knights, declined to comment.
The charges against the pair were brought as part of an ongoing Serious Fraud Office investigation into the £50m of frauds, which saw six others, including four solicitors, charged in December 2009.
Source : Law Gazette
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