Ephgrave: Significant milestone
Axiom Ince chief executive Pragnesh Modhwadia and fellow solicitor Shyam Mistry, along with three senior staff, were charged today by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
The offences include fraud, forgery and the destruction of documents, following the collapse of the firm last year and alleged improper use of over £60m of client money.
The SFO’s investigation was opened 15 months ago and is one of its fastest to result in criminal charges. In November 2023, it arrested seven people and carried out dawn raids across nine sites.
Mr Modhwadia – the sole owner of Axiom Ince – and chief financial officer Muhammad Ali have been charged with two counts of fraud by abuse of position. They are alleged to have misused client funds and exposed thousands of the firm’s clients to losses.
Mr Mistry was a director and head of personal injury and medical negligence. He and Mr Modhwadia are also charged, alongside chief technology officer Rupesh Karawadra and vice-president of IT Jayesh Anjaria, with conspiring to conceal, destroy or dispose of documents relevant to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) investigation into the firm.
All five are also charged with conspiring to mislead the SRA using false documents.
SFO director Nick Ephgrave said: “The collapse of Axiom Ince left thousands of clients exposed to significant losses and hundreds of people out of a job. The SFO set out to identify and bring those responsible to justice, and today’s charging is a significant milestone in achieving that.
“I pledged at the start of my tenure to speed up case progression at the SFO and with this investigation, opened only 15 months ago, we have conducted a thorough and targeted investigation in record time to bring these charges today.”
All defendants are expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 15 January to answer the charges against them.
Philip Barden, a partner at London firm Devonshires who acts for the remaining Axiom directors, said: “It’s important for people to understand that the remaining 12 Axiom directors are completely innocent and knew nothing about any misconduct or fraud that was happening at the firm.
“They spent six weeks working around the clock to mitigate the impact of the fraud on clients and staff, and through their efforts clients were rehoused and more than 1,100 jobs were saved.”
Jim Varley, lead insolvency partner at Devonshires, who acts for the administrators of Axiom Ince, added: “This will be very welcome news for anyone affected by the wide-ranging fallout from the Axiom Ince administration.
“We will continue to work with the administrators to unravel the mess left behind and remain confident that we will recover monies owed for those clients left out of pocket.”
Mr Modhwadia and Mr Mistry’s practising certificates were automatically suspended in August 2023 when the SRA intervened into their personal practices along with that of head of property Idnan Liaqat.
This was first public sign of trouble at Axiom Ince ahead of the regulator shutting down the firm in October 2023. Mr Mistry dropped plans to challenge the intervention a year ago.
The three non-lawyers have since been made subject to orders by the SRA preventing them from working for a regulated law firm without its permission, with one published only this week.
In October, responding to the suggestion that Axiom Ince cases could reach the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in mid-2025, SRA chief executive Paul Philip said it had agreed to pause regulatory action while the SFO carried out its investigation.
Leave a Comment