Duo jailed for multimillion pound mortgage scam

17 June 2010 | By Natalie Thomas

Munir Akhtar, aged 43, of Bawtry Road, Cantley, and Sajid Mahmood, also 43, of Checkstone Avenue, Cantley, were arrested after a three-year inquiry – dubbed Operation Memoir - by South Yorkshire Police’s money laundering investigation team.

In May, Akhtar was found guilty of seven offences of obtaining money transfers by deception, in relation to false mortgage applications. He has received two years in prison, plus a further two jail terms of 15 months and four of nine months, to run concurrently.

Mahmood was convicted of one offence of obtaining money transfer by deception and five counts of attempt deception regarding mortgage applications. He was ordered to serve four months in jail, plus a further five nine-month-long sentences, again to run concurrently. 

Three other people were cleared of their charges.

The investigation began in the summer of 2007 when police discovered almost £330,000 in used notes in a bedroom above the Taj Mahal Indian restaurant at Hall Gate, Doncaster.

No-one came forward to claim the cash and a successful forfeiture application was made under the Proceeds of Crime Act at Doncaster Magistrates’ Court on August 30, 2007.

The inquiry then intensified and the team uncovered a number of mortgage applications containing false details, including inflated income.

These applications by Akhtar and Mahmood were made to around half a dozen mortgage lenders between the spring of 2004 and August 2006 regarding both men’s own homes and rented properties under their control – totalling over £2.3m.

Akhtar was a company director of Nadia Homes Limited, which had its registered office at 32, Hall Gate, Doncaster – the site of the Taj Mahal, while Mahmood was involved in the day-to-day running of the restaurant. 

Following the sentencing, SYP’s Economic Crime Unit manager Graham Wragg, says: “Mortgage fraud may sometimes be viewed as a victimless crime. But in reality we are all the victims as the cost will in some way be passed on by the financial institutions to us, their regular customers.

“South Yorkshire Police is committed to using the Proceeds of Crime Act to deter offenders by making sure that no-one profits from crime.

“As such, we will be pursuing confiscation proceedings to recover, as far as possible, any assets Akhtar and Mahmood may have acquired from their criminal activity.”

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