By Lucy Caulkett-
Two solicitors who were jailed for false accounting have been ordered to pay back more than £200,000 by a UK court, and are having their assets stripped.
Ayaz Siddique, 49, and Deepankar Dixit, 39, a former worker at a law firm in Newcastle where they stole thousands of pounds by funnelling money into a cash account they kept outside the business,
AD: Capeesh Restaurant
The criminal pair(pictured) from Manchester were further investigated by officers from the North East Regional Economic Crime Unit who looked into their financial activity prior to the convictions and assessed the value of their assets.
Officers from the North East Regional Economic Crime Unit (RECU) were unsatisfied with the full extent of justice served and continued pulling together a case against them under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
They looked at their financial activity prior to the offending, assessed the value of their assets and calculated what value each of them had illegally obtained through their criminal activity.
AD: Oysterian Sea Food Restaurant And Bar
Appearing at Leeds Crown Court last Wednesday and Thursday, as part of Confiscation Orders granted by a judge, the pair are required to pay back a total of £205,000, with a firm warning that failure to comply could result in them being jailed for longer.
Speaking after the order was made, detective sergeant Thomas Maughan said Siddique and Dixit had showed a ‘blatant disregard’ for their professional obligations and lost their careers in the profession. ‘This investigation shows that jail time isn’t the only form of justice that convicted offenders face. We will also seek to strip them of any assets and financial gain that their criminality has provided them.’
Both Siddique and Dixit worked for Kingstons Solicitors Ltd, which was intervened into by the SRA to protect the interests of former clients. The intervention notice stated the firm closed in December 2016.
Siddique is currently being prosecuted by the Solicitors Regulations Authority(SRA) over allegations that he carried out false accounting between January 2014 and May 2016, and that he committed an act with an intent to pervert the course of public justice. Dixit has also been prosecuted and faces an allegation that he carried out false accounting over the same dates.
Both MEN remain on the roll, and the allegations are as yet unproven and subject to a hearing before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
An investigation by the North East Regional Economic Crime Unit (RECU) led to the pair being arrested and subsequently convicted for false accounting in December 2019.
However, officers continued to put together a case under the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure that money seized from the two men is reinvested in local community groups via small grants.
This looked at their financial activity prior to the offending, and assessed the value of their assets and calculated what value each of them had illegally obtained through their fraudulent activity.
Detective Sergeant Thomas Maughan said: “Both Siddique and Dixit showed a blatant disregard for their professional obligations. Each of them acted outside the law and have now lost their status as solicitors.
“This investigation shows that jail time isn’t the only form of justice that convicted offenders face.
“We will also seek to strip them of any assets and financial gain that their criminality has provided them – crime really doesn’t pay.”
AD: Heritage And Restaurant Lounge Bar