Bankside Law

Successful defence in dishonestly obtaining interest in property by transfer case

Bankside Law is pleased to be able to announce the recent successful defence of an accusation of the fraudulent transfer of a dwelling property. Saadia Siddiqui handled the matter on behalf of the firm.

This was a case whereby a husband and wife became estranged due to differences within the marriage. The husband (H) - in an attempt to reconcile - agreed to transfer the property into the name of his wife (W).

‘W’ agreed to reconcile and the dwelling home was transferred into her and her brother’s (B) name with ‘B’ acting as guarantor. The transfer took place in 2004, but some four years later ‘H’ denied knowledge of the transfer and both ‘W’ and ‘B’ were arrested and charged with obtaining property by deception.

The issue in this case was knowledge and how to show that ‘H’ fully consented to and had knowledge of the transfer. What became key in this case was appreciating that ‘there is no property in a witness’

Representing ‘B’ in interview, we notified the prosecution of two individuals who had witnessed the signature of ‘H’ on a key document involving the transfer. We expected this to prove knowledge by ‘H’ and end the investigation, but it was clear that the evidence obtained by the Police from two witnesses was deficient and both ‘B’ and ‘W’ were charged. We challenged the evidence of both witnesses and requested that we be afforded the right to re-interview them.

Defence lawyers ask different questions from prosecuting authorities and it became evident that the statements omitted significant evidence which should have been included in the first instance.

Indeed, the Trial Judge was critical of the way in which the police had taken the statements and intimated that had the witnesses been asked those questions put to them, there may not have even been a prosecution.

After this successful result, our client commented: “In what was a turbulent and traumatic time for me and my family I found Saadia approachable, open and reliable? Always very professional and thorough with her work  she was instrumental in getting me through this long and arduous period in my life. I have no hesitation in recommending her to anyone in need of a criminal lawyer.”

© Saadia Siddiqui, November 2009