WIREDGOV

A money launderer who washed the illegal profits of a convicted drugs trafficker has been ordered by a Judge to hand back £993,760 

Her Honour Judge Cahill, in Leeds Crown Court, ruled that assets belonging to 45 year old Mohammed Azam Yaqoob from Dewsbury, were the profits of his illegal activities and granted the National Crime Agency a Confiscation Order for £993,760.45

Judge Cahill told Mohammed Azam Yaqoob that if he fails to meet the Order, he will face a further four and a half years in prison and still have to pay the full Order plus interest.

The National Crime Agency investigation showed Yaqoob was a member of a six strong organised crime group which defrauded an insurance company of almost £330,000. The fraud was uncovered after a convicted drugs trafficker Nazam Hussain Ashiq transferred £329,000 into his own company Zain Corporation (UK) from an insurance company HSB Engineering Ltd. The fax he sent to a bank instructing them to transfer the money was fraudulent. 

Yaqoob was charged with theft and money laundering after he received £115,000 of the fraudulently obtained funds into his bank account, and proceeded to withdraw £70,000 in cash over the next few days, before his account was frozen.

In a series of arrests the NCA arrested and charged Yaqoob and three others in the organised crime network in 2007 in connection with fraud and money laundering.

A financial investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ran simultaneous to the criminal investigation. Analysis of Yaqoob’s finances over the last six years shows his lifestyle was funded by illegal profits, including fraud and money laundering.

So far, a judge has granted five Confiscation Orders against the criminal enterprise totalling £1,127 958.

Sentences for gang members

- Mohammed Azam Yaqoob  North Road, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury. 01/02/1969 Charged with three counts of theft and one count of money laundering. Sentenced to 18 months on each count, to run concurrently on 19/04/2012 at Leeds Crown Court.

The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 permits law enforcement agencies to investigate financial records up to a period of six years.

The other members of the group were:

- Nazam Hussain Ashiq  dob 15/04/1978 Moorlands Terrace, Dewsbury.  Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and seven counts of money laundering in March 2011. Sentenced to three years for conspiracy to defraud and 12 months for each of the seven counts of money laundering. The sentences are to run concurrently. Ashiq was sentenced to 11 years and 8 months in Brazil in 2007 

- Ibrar Ali dob 20/07/1972 Selbourne Avenue, Dewsbury. Pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation relating to his role in obtaining of two fraudulent mortgages. Sentenced to 15 months imprisonment on 18/03/2010 at York Crown Court.

- Zulfiqar Ali dob 16/03/1963 Selbourne Avenue, Dewsbury. Pleaded guilty to 2 counts of fraud by false representation and one count of money laundering relating to obtaining fraudulent remortgages, Sentenced to 15 months imprisonment on 18/03/2010 at York Crown Court. 

- Nazia Siddique dob 24/08/1980  Crackenedge Lane, Dewsbury– pleaded guilty to money laundering for her part in transferring the proceeds of a mortgage fraud. Sentenced to 9 months suspended and 200 hours community service on 10/09/2009 at Leeds Crown Court. 

- William Jones, dob 18/07/1955 Chorley New Road Bolton. Jones was sentenced to 11 years and 1 month in Brazil in 2007

Further information

- Find out more about money laundering