The chief financial officer of closed firm Axiom Ince today denied a conspiracy charge related to the 2023 collapse. Muhammad Ali, 44, denied conspiracy to conceal, destroy or otherwise dispose of documents which he knew or ought to have known would be relevant to an investigation.
The charge was put to Ali after His Honour Judge Baumgartner, recorder of Westminster, allowed an amendment to the indictment to add Ali as a defendant to count four.
The other defendants - Axiom Ince’s former chief executive and director Pragnesh Modhwadia, 43, co-director Shyam Mistry, 37, and IT chiefs Rupesh Karawadra, 42, and Jayesh Anjaria, 47 – have previously denied all the charges against them.
Solicitors Modhwadia and Mistry deny two counts of fraud by abuse of position, one count of conspiracy to use false instruments and a count of conspiracy to conceal, destroy or otherwise dispose of documents which they knew or suspected were or would be relevant to an investigation.
Karawadra denies conspiracy to use false instruments and conspiracy to conceal, destroy or otherwise dispose of documents. Anjaria denies conspiracy to conceal, destroy or otherwise dispose of documents.
Ali denies two counts of fraud by abuse of position and a count of conspiracy to use false instruments.
The trial is listed for February 2027, for 14 weeks.
Axiom Ince ceased trading in 2023 after a Solicitors Regulation Authority investigation.
