WIREDGOV

A former mortgage broker and financial consultant was yesterday jailed for his part in brokering nearly two million pounds worth of sham mortgages.

Adeel Mirza, aged 45, who had been the arranger for a convicted drug trafficker's mortgages and had supplied him with both advice and false documentation, was sentenced to six years at Southwark Crown Court.

Mirza was identified as a result of an investigation by SOCA which led to Riaz Mohammed, aged 46, being convicted of conspiring to import heroin into the UK from Turkey. Mohammed and several of his criminal associates were sentenced to a total of 87 years in 2008.

Officers also discovered that Mirza had fraudulently used his family members’ identities to purchase properties, facilitate fraudulent mortgage applications, and to open UK and offshore bank accounts.

Additionally, Mirza assisted a former solicitor, Elena Quinlivan, aged 36, in obtaining over £1m worth of mortgages for properties which she then let out.

Both Mirza and Quinlivan were charged with fraud and deception offences. Quinlivan was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison at Southwark Crown Court in September last year. Mirza finally admitted his guilt in July this year.

In passing sentence, His Honour Judge Higgins said that Mirza’s actions were of the “gravest moral turpitude”.

Senior SOCA officer Jacque Beer said: “Mirza sought to use his professional knowledge to circumvent the mortgage process for the benefit of both himself and his criminal associates. This case is a clear example of our commitment to follow every lead and to ensure that crime does not pay.”