A High Court judge has refused to order an early release from prison for Shaid Luqman, the boss of collapsed property finance company Lexi Holdings.
Yesterday, Luqman, who is serving a 12-month jail sentence for contempt of court imposed on him in March, appeared in person to apply for an early release.
In March, David Richards J sentenced Luqman, who has already served a two-year sentence for breach of court orders, following a dispute with administrator KPMG.
When Lexi collapsed in October 2006, KPMG sued and obtained substantial judgments against Luqman and 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) and other Lexi directors.
Sentencing Luqman, David Richards J said that he had “treated wholly with contempt the orders of this court” and “is and remains a defendant bent on flouting court orders”.
On Monday, Luqman “humbly apologised” to Henderson J for his actions. He said that he now realised the seriousness of what he had done and would like to be released early.
He told the judge that his immediate family had “disintegrated” and had been “humiliated by the proceedings”.
Dismissing the application, Henderson J said that the basis for the imprisonment persisted because the court and administrators still did not know what had become of the majority of Lexi’s assets.
Lexi Holdings plc (in administration) v Luqman and others Chancery Division (Henderson J) 29 June 2009.
The applicant appeared in person and was not represented; Philip Marshall QC (instructed by DLA Piper UK LLP) appeared for the respondent.