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£1.25m mortgage fraudster who implicated himself jailed for more than five years

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  • 24/08/2017
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£1.25m mortgage fraudster who implicated himself jailed for more than five years
A mortgage fraudster who hid 15kg of gold bullion bought with the proceeds of his scam before inadvertently turning-himself in has been jailed for five years and nine months.

Abid Hussain (pictured) from Kilburn in London defrauded a property company and a mortgage lender out of more than £1.25m.

Despite protesting otherwise, CCTV footage heavily implicated Hussain in the property fraud and the purchase of 15kg of gold bullion worth around £438,000, which has yet to be recovered.

His scam was revealed in the summer of 2016 after he reported being the victim of a property fraud as a property he owned in North Acton was sold for £480,000.

The Metropolitan Police’s Fraud and Linked Crime Online (FALCON) Unit begin investigating and established that Hussain had sold the property himself and that the funds he received were from the company buying the premises.

Hussain also reported that more than £770,000 had been paid into his current account apparently from the remortgage of another property he owned.

He denied making the mortgage application and said the account into which the proceeds of the sale were deposited did not belong to him, despite his name being on the account.

The plan

Hussain provided a false witness statement to police, intending to void the supposed fraudulent transaction and leaving the property company and mortgage lender out of pocket.

However, CCTV captured him entering the offices of a central London solicitors to complete the mortgage application.

He travelled to Pakistan in the days after purchasing the bullion and is believed to have taken it with him.

Hussain was convicted at Southwark Crown Court on 14 August of two counts of fraud, one count of money laundering and one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Bullion

Police said enquiries to establish what happened to the bullion and what he bought it for are ongoing and added that all the funds were returned to the mortgage company.

Police are now conducting an investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002) to recover all the proceeds of the frauds committed by Hussain.

Detective Constable Richard Kirk of the Metropolitan Police’s Complex Fraud Squad said: “A swift investigation has ensured that Hussain will now have time to reflect on what he has done in prison.

“Evidence showed that Hussain had meticulously planned these frauds for some time. We are pleased to see he has received a custodial sentence that reflects the seriousness of his offences.”

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