Asim Hussain, 42, the director of Lifestyle Mortgages based in Middlesex, was discovered to have diverted company income into other bank accounts to reduce the profits of his company and pay less corporation tax.
Hussain then used the money to fund a property in Dubai, overpay on his mortgage and buy land as an investment.
At a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, Hussain was found guilty of falsifying mortgage applicants’ income and employment details, and at a separate hearing the defendant pleaded guilty to cheating HMRC out of corporation tax, the recovery of which it is currently pursuing.
HMRC and the Metropolitan Police Service, which carried out the investigation, were made aware of the fraudster’s activities when the Financial Conduct Authority’s predecessor, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), struck Hussain off as a mortgage adviser and banned him from the financial services industry.
A lender had contacted the FSA with concerns about discrepancies in mortgage applications submitted by Hussain, which were based on false and misleading information.
Gary Forbes, assistant director, criminal investigation, HMRC, said Hussain’s career was now ‘in tatters’.
“Hussain seemed to believe he could act above the law and that by simply moving money between bank accounts he would stay off HMRC’s radar. Instead, he has learned the hard way that crime does not pay – he now has a criminal record and his reputation and career are in tatters,” he said.
“What Hussain did was illegal and immoral – he used the money that should have gone back into funding some of the UK’s most vital public services to invest in his property and enjoy a lifestyle most honest taxpayers can only dream of.”
