Developer sentenced to 13 years for mortgage fraud
A BIRMINGHAM-based property developer has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for his part in a £49m mortgage fraud.
Saghir Afzal, 49, has also been disqualified from being a company director for 14 years after pleading guilty in January to his involvement in the fraud, reports PropertyWeek.com.
Ian McGarry, a former valuer with Dunlop Haywards Lorenz in London, was also sentenced to seven years at Southwark Crown Court yesterday for his part in the fraud, having also pleaded guilty in September.
Speaking at the court, Judge Beddoe said he could find “no explanation” for McGarry’s role in the crime but “simple and frankly, rampant greed.”
McGarry blamed a culture at Dunlop Haywards and his other former employers of giving “optimistic” valuations of properties, while ignoring many downsides.
Afzal was one of two brothers accused of instigating the fraud. He claimed his brother, Nisar, was the ringleader and told the court he had simply been “used and abused”.
But Judge Beddoe said: “It seems to me that the two of you were in a close partnership where one cannot operate without the other.”
The fraud relates to bribes given by the Afzal brothers to Ian McGarry to provide fraudulent valuations of six properties. The valuations were up to 19 times the true value of the property.
The Afzals used McGarry’s valuations to secure around £50m in loans from banks, £26m of which has been sent to Pakistan, where the Afzals have considerable numbers of business associates and family members.
Earlier this month, three other defendants in the trial were acquitted. Hardeep Sodhi, formerly of Birmingham-based Patwa Solicitors, Simon Lawrence, formerly of Darlingtons Solicitors in London, and Mark Knights of Mace & Jones in Manchester, were found not guilty by a jury.
On Monday the Serious Fraud Office, which brought the case, decided not to pursue a retrial in the cases of Fatema Patwa, also of Patwa Solicitors, Laurence Ferrigan, formerly of the London-based CFB Partnership, and Kamran Malik, of A&H Solicitors in Birmingham, after their trail collapsed when the jury failed to reach a decision.
