Two Newcastle solicitors who stole thousands of pounds ordered to pay back £200,000

Two Newcastle fraudsters who stole thousands of pounds in their role as solicitors have been ordered to pay back more than £200,000.

Ayaz Siddique, 49, and Deepankar Dixit, 39, used a variety of deceptive techniques to transfer large amounts of money into a cash account they kept outside the business where Siddique was a Director.

Siddique, of Milvain Avenue, Newcastle, and Dixit, of Springhill Gardens, Newcastle, were ordered to pay back a total of £205,000 following a proceeds of crime hearing at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday (16 February) and Thursday (17 February).

An investigation by the North East Regional Economic Crime Unit (RECU) led to the pair being arrested and subsequently convicted for false accounting in December 2019.

However, officers continued to put together a case under the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure that money seized from the two men is reinvested in local community groups via small grants.

This looked at their financial activity prior to the offending, and assessed the value of their assets and calculated what value each of them had illegally obtained through their fraudulent activity.

Detective Sergeant Thomas Maughan said: “Both Siddique and Dixit showed a blatant disregard for their professional obligations. Each of them acted outside the law and have now lost their status as solicitors.

“This investigation shows that jail time isn’t the only form of justice that convicted offenders face.

"We will also seek to strip them of any assets and financial gain that their criminality has provided them – crime really doesn’t pay."