Joe Bloggs founder to sue Customs

Mr Ahmed has made millions from his jeans empire

The founder of UK jeans empire Joe Bloggs has vowed to take action against Customs and Excise after being cleared of fraud charges.

Millionaire Shami Ahmed, 42, said he would pursue the agency for damages.

Mr Ahmed and five others were charged with conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to use false instruments after a Customs surveillance operation.

On Monday, a judge at London's Southwark Crown Court threw out the case because of insufficient evidence.

The fact that the judge threw it (the case) out says it all Shami Ahmed, Joe Bloggs founder

'Vindicated'

Mr Ahmed said the decision had "vindicated" his trust in the British justice system.

"I have always said that there was no basis for these proceedings and I am pleased that the Court has come to the same conclusion," he said in a statement.

A Customs and Excise spokesman said they would look at the judge's ruling and are considering their options.

The Manchester-based entrepreneur had been charged with faking his own arrest as part of an elaborate set-up to avoid paying his creditors.

He was alleged to have met three businessmen in a London hotel in September last year.

The prosecution claimed that he was approached by two men claiming to be Customs officers who flashed fake ID cards and showed Mr Ahmed a bogus money seizure document.

The three were then arrested for real, along with two others, by genuine Customs and Excise officers who had been watching the men.

Legal action

In his ruling, Judge Rodney McKinnon said: "There is an important gap in the prosecution evidence in establishing its case which as a whole means there is insufficient evidence from which it can safely be inferred that the intention of the defendants at the time was directed towards accepting an unlawful outcome."

Mr Ahmed is now threatening legal action.

"I am talking to my legal team as to where we go from here. After all, this has been a cloud over me and one's name and credibility is really beyond price," Mr Ahmed said.

"They were trying to say things without any evidence. The fact that the judge threw it out says it all."

The other defendants in the case were Simon Jones, 23, David Montgomery, 42, and Mark Sheppard, 44, all of Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, Christopher Hanson, 47, of East Molesley, Surrey, and Anthony Price, 36, of Epsom, Surrey.

Mr Ahmed was also awarded his defence costs in the ruling.

The Pakistani-born business man made his first million within months of setting up the Joe Bloggs label, becoming the first person to take a UK company into the country's top 10 jeans brands.