Solicitors charged in £50m mortgage fraud

by Gill Montia

Story link: Solicitors charged in £50m mortgage fraud

Two solicitors appeared at City of London Magistrates Court last week, after being charged with offences in connection with a £50 million commercial mortgage fraud.

Mark Knights and Kamran Malik faced three counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception and have been committed to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court.

The two are allegedly involved with six other defendants who attended a preliminary hearing at Southwark in January.

It is alleged that the defendants participated in a series of frauds, dishonestly obtaining loans from banks or building societies that were secured on six commercial investment properties.

Each property was transferred between companies controlled by one of the defendants and his associates at highly inflated prices.

Using fraudulent valuations and forged leases, the defendants allegedly obtained mortgage advances totalling almost £50 million.

The mortgages were quickly defaulted on and the lenders suffered significant losses.

Initial concerns were raised with the Police by Cheshire Building Society.