Two solicitors have been charged with multiple offences related to a series of high-value commercial mortgage frauds worth around £50m in total.

Mark Knights of Cheshire, 45, who worked at Manchester firm Mace & Jones at the time the frauds took place, appeared today at the City of London Magistrates' Court alongside Kamran Malik of Birmingham, 31, who worked at Birmingham firm A&H Solicitors at the time the frauds took place. Neither defendant is currently employed by Mace & Jones or A&H Solicitors.

Both were charged with three counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception contrary to section 15A(1) of the Theft Act 1968. The proceedings will be transferred to Southwark Crown Court.

Knights’ and Malik’s charges come as part of an ongoing Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into £50m of frauds, which has already seen six others, including four solicitors, being charged in December 2009.

The case was referred to the SFO by West Midlands Police in 2006 following a complaint from the Cheshire Building Society.