The boss of collapsed property finance company Lexi Holdings has been jailed for 12 months for contempt of court.
High court judge Mr Justice David Richards pronounced the sentence on Shaid Luqman, who has already served a two-year sentence for breach of court orders, following an eight-day court battle with administrator KPMG.
Following Lexi’s collapse in October 2006, KPMG sued Luqman and the other members of his family over the misappropriation of more than £53m in Lexi assets and unlawful loans, as well as property transfers to companies controlled by Luqman (who had previous criminal convictions for fraud) or other Lexi directors.
In the lengthy legal proceedings that have followed, KPMG has won substantial claims against Luqman, his brother Waheed, his sisters Monuza and Zauarian, while his father Mohammed has been ordered to pay £16.2m after he failed to comply with an asset disclosure order.
Following the committal hearing in February, Mr Justice David Richards has now ruled that, in breach of court orders, Luqman had deceived the court as to the disposal of two Range Rovers and two valuable paintings, procured the making of a false statement of truth, provided false information as to the source of funding for his legal costs, and sold land in Gujurat, Pakistan.
By doing so, the judge held that Luqman had “treated wholly with contempt the orders of this court” and “is and remains a defendant bent on flouting the orders of this court”.
While passing judgment on Luqman the judge also issued warrants for the arrest of Waheed and Mohammed so that as and when they return from
An arrest warrant was not issued against Zaurian who was found to be suffering from a psychotic illness after her conviction in November 2008 for an assault on a police officer and damage to a police car at the constituency office of Jack Straw MP in
Monuza, who did appear and was represented at the committal hearing, was found in contempt of court, but her sentence of six months imprisonment was suspended for two years.
