The Solicitors Regulation Authority has intervened in a Cheshire firm and suspended the practising certificates of five of its solicitors following allegations of dishonesty involving hundreds of thousands of pounds of clients’ money.

The SRA is investigating suspected dishonesty and breaches of accounting rules at Wolstenholmes, a 200-year-old firm that has offices in Cheshire, Manchester, Birmingham and London.

The regulator suspended solicitors Imran Hussain, Helen Murgatroyd, Bobby Shabbir, Bilal Khawaja and Nasser Ilyas from practice just before Christmas.

The Legal Complaints Service has received more than 100 complaints from clients claiming to have lost money when they used the firm for conveyancing services.

It is understood that Hussain, the firm’s managing partner, has denied any wrongdoing.

Meanwhile, separately, four solicitors appeared at Southwark Crown Court this week, alongside two others, accused of taking part in a £50m mortgage fraud.

Laurence Ferrigan, former partner at Wanstead firm the CFB Partnership, Simon Lawrence, former partner at Edgware firm Darlingtons, Fatema Patwa, principal of Birmingham firm Patwa, and Hardeep Sodhi, a former solicitor at Patwa, and two others have been charged with conspiracy to obtain a money transfer by deception.

The investigation was referred to the Serious Fraud Office in March 2006 by West Midlands Police following a complaint from Cheshire Building Society.

It is alleged that the defendants participated in a series of frauds whereby they dishonestly obtained loans from banks or building societies that were secured on six commercial investment properties.

All six were released on bail to return for a case management hearing on 1 March.