In the first article, The Mail on Sunday alleged that in 2005 the claimant, Qadir, had wrongfully taken over a nightclub from three businessmen.
The article claimed that in doing so, the three businessmen feared for their own safety and that of their families. The piece sat on the Mail’s website until 8 September 2011 and was published elsewhere as a result (including summarised versions that appeared on the Mortgage Solutions site).
These allegations had previously been made in a High Court writ against Qadir, but the article failed to report his categorical denial of the claims contained in his Defence as lodged with the High Court, and instead wrongly alleged that he had declined to comment in respect of the allegations.
Then, on 19 June 2011, Associated published a further article in the Mail on Sunday and on its website under the heading “Top banker named in mortgage fraud case”.
That article reported allegations made by defence barrister Mohammed Khamisa in a sentencing hearing that Mr Qadir was a central figure in a £49m criminal fraud conspiracy.
However, the Judge made clear not only that Qadir had not lent any of that money, but that the allegations made in the defence counsel’s submissions – to the effect that Qadir had been involved in a criminal conspiracy to defraud banks – weren’t supported by the evidence and should not have been made.
Moreover, the judge at the trial of Qadir’s libel claim, Mr Justice Tugendhat, came to similar conclusions: that Qadir should not have been mentioned in the submissions and that the Mail on Sunday article had failed to report the sentencing hearing proceedings fairly or accurately.
In a statement made to the court, Qadir’s solicitor confirmed that Associated Newspapers had publicly apologised for publishing the two articles.
