In November 2010, Batash Karim stood before a judge at Bradford Crown Court.
The 31-year-old, of Gordon Street, Keighley, Yorkshire, was on trial for his role in the violent attack which left a man with life-threatening injuries.During the trial, witnesses described the victim – who denied in court that he was a Member of local drug cartel — was attacked with weapons including an ax and punched and kicked by a group of men.
Karim and five others were found guilty of attempted murder but found guilty of lesser offenses of unlawful wounding and violent disorder.
“You went out armed, prepared to fight and took the law into your own hands,” the judge reportedly told the six men while imposing an 18-month prison sentence. a report In Bradford Telegraph and Argus. “This was a horrific public disturbance late at night in Keighley.”
In the same month, 31-year-old Batash Karim resigned as director of Ezi Floor Limited. Karim set up the carpet underlay manufacturer four years ago in 2006 at his address in Gordon Street, Keighley.
Are the two Batash Karim the same person?
According to Victoria, this shouldn’t matter. But it’s a question that has long plagued shareholders of the Aim-listed carpet maker. Last Monday, the company’s shares plunged 20% after auditors warned that its accounts contained “significant risks of fraud.”
Grant Thornton’s qualified audit opinion focused on a series of issues at its subsidiary Hanover Flooring, pointing out “risk factors of fraud,” violations of money laundering regulations and “potential irregularities in certain transactions.” Notably, Victoria’s management and board imposed scope restrictions preventing Grant Thornton from conducting further audit work in Hanover on these issues.
Victoria acquired Hannover in 2021 from Batash Karim, who continues as business manager for carpet distribution. He also serves as a director of Hanover Flooring alongside Victoria executive chairman Geoff Wilding, who has spearheaded an acquisition spree of more than 20 flooring companies since taking the helm in 2012.
Victoria purchased Ezi Floor in 2016 and the seller had previously been identified as Batash’s brother, Saqib Karim.
Victoria downplayed the problems found in Hannover, dismissing it as a small subsidiary with inadequate record-keeping and no impact on the group’s financial statements.wilding gave The following accounts The matter was spelled out in a statement released ahead of the company’s annual general meeting last Friday:
Victoria’s strong outlook has been clouded by considerable reaction last week to a qualified opinion issued by our auditors over incomplete accounting records at a small subsidiary, Hanover Flooring Limited. The subsidiary as a whole accounts for less than 1.25% of the company’s shares. Group turnover. The board wishes to emphasize that Hannover was not involved in any wrongdoing that affected the group’s financial statements and the auditors did not raise this allegation. Hanover’s problems were mainly due to inadequate accounting records relating to customer receipts not exceeding £400,000, resulting in increased financial risk.
I would like to reassure our stakeholders that we have identified the issues at this small subsidiary and have allocated additional experienced financial resources who have appropriate controls in place to ensure adequate accounting records and internal Control will remain at the high level we are firmly embedded in. the remaining members of the group. We are very clear from the extensive work done by ourselves and the “Big Four” accounting advisers that all payments due were received, no funds were unaccounted for and Victoria suffered no losses. We are also very clear that there are no other such issues elsewhere in the group and our auditors have confirmed that the accounts give a true and fair view of the company.
However, given these issues, it would appear to be relevant information to shareholders if Hannover’s managers also have criminal records. Local news reports of the Keighley attack did not go unnoticed by the market, with numerous investors pointing out to Financial Times Alphaville a possible link.
Based on speculation, we thought it was important to prove if this was the same person.
This is not the first time we have sought clarification. Back in August 2022, FTAV questioned Wilding about Batash Karim’s apparent conviction. The conversation comes after Iceberg Research released a short-selling report on Victoria, which focused on certain aspects of the Ezi Floor and Hanover acquisitions but did not mention Batash Karim.
Wilding would only discuss the matter privately.
Following the release of Grant Thornton’s audit report, we thought it might be helpful to reopen the document and obtain more information beyond the pairing details found in contemporaneous news reports.
We left messages for Batash Karim by phone and email, but received no response. Instead, we spoke to a local businessman who said he knew Saqib and Batash Karim but asked to remain anonymous. He assured us that Batash Karim, who ran Hannover, had been convicted of participating in the violent attack.
Next, we asked Bradford Crown County if they could provide the full date of birth of Batash Karim, who was convicted in 2010 of unlawful wounding and violent disorder.
While Batash Karim only provided his month and year of birth in a Companies House statement when he became a director of Hanover Flooring, the full date of birth is listed in Ezi Floor’s 2006 incorporation documents. The date of birth returned by Bradford Crown County matches this exactly.
FTAV shared its findings with Victoria and asked for comment. Here is its statement:
Hanover Flooring Limited, a small subsidiary whose turnover represents less than 1.25 per cent of Victoria’s total turnover, has not been charged with any serious financial misconduct or misconduct. The company admitted that some of the subsidiary’s accounting records were inadequate, resulting in the inability to reconcile some customer receipts totaling less than £400,000. Appropriate controls are currently in place, consistent with the high level of internal controls in place across the Group. Following extensive work carried out by us and our accounting advisers, we discovered that the subsidiary received a small cash payment that exceeded the high value dealer limit of £8,500. All payments due were received, no funds were unaccounted for, there were no allegations of money laundering or financial misconduct, and Victoria suffered no losses.
This article features an employee in Victoria who was convicted nearly 13 years ago and is currently serving his sentence. He is a good example of a successfully rehabilitated offender who has not committed any further misconduct. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 makes it clear that it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an applicant on the basis of a spent conviction and it is not a safeguarding issue where the employee concerned has not been convicted of dishonesty or financial corruption. It is extremely disappointing that the Financial Times ignored this legal principle and harassed a Victoria employee without any charges being laid. Michael Hastings, Dean of SOAS, University of London, founder of Crime Concern and co-founder of Catch22, wrote in this newspaper in April 2023: “…employment of people who have paid their dues Exclusion denies worthy individuals the opportunity to contribute again. It makes our society less prosperous and more unequal.” It would be nice if your own editorial policy followed suit.
Further reading:
— Victoria plc’s audit nightmare (FTAV)
— Victoria plc: We need a bigger ship (FTAV)
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