Jeans millionaire in court
Millionaire jeans mogul Shami Ahmed appeared in court today charged with conspiracy to impersonate a customs officer.
The rag trade entrepreneur, who founded the Joe Bloggs brand, allegedly hatched the plot with four other men.
A 15-minute preliminary hearing at London's Southwark Crown Court heard the offence was allegedly committed on or before September 29 this year.
The single charge against the Manchester-based businessman - listed under his full name Eaithisham Ahmed - and his co-defendants, was not read out in full.
In the dock with 42-year-old Ahmed, of Blackburne's Mews, Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, central London, was David Montgomery, also 42 and Simon Jones, 23, both of whom live in Hersham Road, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey; Mark Sheppard, 44, from Claremount Avenue, Walton-on-Thames and Christopher Hanson, 47, of Park Road, East Molesey, Surrey.
Although no pleas were taken, counsel for the men said the "indications" were that their clients would deny the charge at a separate hearing on December 15.
Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith told the defendants they could all remain on conditional bail.
For Ahmed that involved the continuation of assurity, a condition of residence and reporting each Tuesday evening to West End Central Police Station.
The judge also told him that while his passport would be retained by Customs and Excise, he could apply for its return "for a particular trip".
But that would be subject to providing a detailed written itinerary of his journey at least 24 hours before departure.
In addition he would have to hand back his passport within a day of his return.
Ahmed, who was wearing a black two-piece suit, white shirt and a black silk tie with silver stripes, left court without commenting.
Pakistani-born Ahmed, whose father founded a fashion empire from a market stall, was just 24 when he launched Bloggs and made his first million within months.
Using such slogans as "Everyone Snogs in Joe Bloggs" and "Kiss the Bliss with Joe Bloggs", he became the first person to take a British company into the UK's top ten jeans brands.
