Pakistani wanted for £50m mortgage scam

LONDON: Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has taken out a warrant relating to a £50 million fraud for a British Pakistani man believed to be in jail in Pakistan.
SFO believes that Nisar Ahmed Afzal, aged 53, with his brother Saghir Ahmed Afzal, aged 49, took part in a mortgage fraud worth £50 million by duping building societies. Businessman Saghir Ahmed from Birmingham has been jailed for 13 years for masterminding the £50 million mortgage fraud along with Ian McGarry, aged 41, a chartered surveyor, who was sentenced to seven years at Southwark Crown Court.
Talking to The News, a spokesperson for SFO confirmed that it was Nisar Afzal, who, it is believed, has taken with him at least £26 million. “We do want Nisar Ahmad Afzal back in the UK to stand trial and we have a warrant for his arrest. If he returns to the UK he will be charged. We do not wish to comment at this stage about extradition or contact with the authorities in Pakistan,” the spokesman said, adding that the amount of £26 million is believed to be under the control of Nisar Afzal in Pakistan.
A source, aware of the details of the fraud, told The News that Nisar Afzal is in a jail in Pakistan and doesn’t want to come out. “He is currently in jail (not sentenced) under the instruction of the PPP government because he scammed one of President Zardari’s closest friends. But Afzal doesn’t want to come out either as he knows Britain’s SFO will go after him,” said the source, adding that the brothers have been involved heavily in land-grabbing in Pakistan. Nisar Afzal, who is believed to have a lot of properties in Islamabad, has a string of FIRs registered against him.
The pair both pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to obtain money transfers by deception and four counts of obtaining a money transfer by deception. HHJ Beddoe, while sentencing, said Afzal was the head of the team that operated a “massive and carefully orchestrated confidence trick”.
During the course of the investigation over 40 residential and commercial premises in Birmingham, Berkshire and London were searched by officers of the SFO and WMP. The SFO’s inquiries revealed that in addition to the Cheshire Building Society, the Bank of Ireland, SociÈtÈ GÈnÈrale and the Nationwide Building Society had also been defrauded.
The SFO spokesperson said that the Afzal brothers recruited McGarry to produce false valuations based on fictitious leases. Companies controlled by the Afzals bought the properties from genuine sellers for a total of £5,688,125. But using McGarry’s false valuations they were able to deceive lenders to loan £49,287,000.
McGarry accepted bribes from the Afzal brothers totalling over £1 million including lavish overseas holidays in Dubai, an Aston Martin car, cash in brown paper envelops and three properties in London.