Seven former members of Wolstenholmes LLP have now been disqualified from acting as directors following the largest failure of any incorporated solicitors practice to date.
More than £13.39m has had to be paid out from the compensation fund so far relating to 2,558 claims as a result of fraudulent trading practices and failure to keep proper books and records.
Former members Waseem Saddique and Mario Cardinali failed to attend the hearing before Judge Bird at Manchester District Registry where they were disqualified for the maximum 15 years.
The hearing heard how conveyancing clients paid money for stamp duty land tax but Wolstenholmes filed false returns and kept some of the money.
Bird J said: “One helpful result of the secretary of state’s exhaustive investigation into this matter is that it has been found that a sum of in excess of £27,000, which can be traced to such land tax payments, was paid to an unconnected company with which Mr Saddique was connected. As was pointed out, that part of the case comprises a small part of the overall losses suffered.”
Saddique acted as a member of Wolstenholmes at a time when he was an undischarged bankrupt and so automatically disqualified.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) first visited the Midlands practice in September 2009, uncovering serious accounting irregularities. A subsequent investigation found an £8m shortfall in the practice’s client account.
Wolstenholme members Imran Hussain and Asma Qayum were struck off, Bilal Khawaja and Helen Murgatroyd were suspended for one and two years, respectively. The case against Nasir Ilyas will be heard in October. The SRA has banned Saddique, Cardinali, Mohammed Kazi and Iftab Hussain from working with a solicitor’s practice without its permission.
David Middleton, executive director, legal, SRA, says: “The tribunal recorded the fact that this was perhaps the most serious case it had ever dealt with.”
