Two weeks ago a jury could not reach a decision on all counts on defendants Fatema Patwa , sole principal of Patwa Solicitors and Laurence Ferrigan, partner at the CFB Partnership, and as a result the SFO has taken the decision not to pursue any further retrials.
The alleged fraud took place between 2004 and 2006 and involved six individuals comprised of Patwa, Ferrigan, Ian McGarry, former head of valuations at Dunlop Haywards Lorenz, Hardeep Sodhi, solicitor at Patwa, Saghir Afzal, company director and property owner and Simon Lawrence, partner of Darlingtons Solicitors.
Over the three years it was alleged the group purchased six properties for approximately £6m and then submitted valuations in order to obtain mortgages on the properties for £48.2m.
Experts estimate that the mortgages were the equivalent of 866% LTV.
The initial query levelled against any of the loans was made in 2006 by Cheshire building society. The Serious Fraud Office began investigating soon after.
David Freeman, partner at solicitor firm Aubrey David LLP, said: “The resources available to the police in fraud cases are limited. I am not surprised that it takes time to get to the bottom of a fraud case.”
Sodhi and Lawrence have since been found not guilty five years after initial investigations commenced.
