Deepankar Dixit & Ayaz Siddique

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Both Respondents, solicitors at Kingstons Solicitors, were convicted at Newcastle Crown Court of false accounting (Section 17(1) Theft Act 1968) committed between January 2014 and May 2016, involving at least £150,000 of cash immigration fee work kept off the firm's accounts and a concealed spreadsheet. Both received immediate custodial sentences of 2 years 3 months. Siddique was additionally convicted of perverting the course of justice for a false statement to police that a laptop had been stolen. The SRA relied solely on the certificates of conviction. Adjournment applications (Dixit citing a late appeal, Siddique citing health) were refused and the Tribunal proceeded in absence. The Tribunal found all allegations proved, found breaches of Principles 1, 2 and 6, and noted the false accounting offence inherently required proof of dishonesty. No exceptional circumstances were advanced or found. Both were struck off and each ordered to pay £11,475 costs (total £22,950).

Duties found breached:

• Overriding duty to the court
• Integrity
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Non-discriminatory acceptance and cab-rank
• Self-report to the regulator

Aggravating factors:

• Sophisticated and planned conduct carried out over a sustained period
• High culpability and high harm, both financial and to the reputation of the profession
• Concealment of the fraud (spreadsheet hidden in unallocated clusters on Dixit's computer)
• Amount involved at least £150,000 with loss to HMRC of around £50,000
• Both held senior compliance roles (COFA/COLP) with specific duties
• Respondents tried to blame others and offered excuses rather than accepting responsibility
• Second Respondent compounded matters by perverting the course of justice

Mitigating factors:

• No previous disciplinary findings against either Respondent
• Second Respondent's health issues were taken into account