HMRC have reported that a gang who sent £26 million of dirty money to Dubai have been jailed for more than 26 years.
Acting each as directors of seven separate companies that were set up for the purpose of laundering money believed to have been generated by alcohol duty fraud, the gang have been found guilty after depositing cash at several banks up to a dozen times every day for almost a year.
Led by Mohammed Zafer, it is reported that the men travelled hundreds of miles to collect and deposit criminal cash from a base in Buckinghamshire.
HMRC have confirmed that 2,376 deposits were made at more than 100 banks across 193 days between July 2015 and June 2016.
Action to recover the money has been launched.
Matthew Moignard, Operational Lead, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said:
“These sentences reflect the industrial scale of this criminal operation, which was led by Mohammed Zafer.
“Money laundering is not a victimless crime. It robs our public services of much needed money and it funds other organised criminality that harms our communities.
“We are on the side of the law-abiding majority and will investigate anyone suspected of tax fraud and laundering the proceeds of crime.
“Anyone with information about any type of tax fraud can contact HMRC online.”
Kevin Hansford from the CPS Serious Economic Organised Crime and International Directorate (SEOCID) said:
“These defendants used overseas bank accounts to transfer vast quantities of dirty money out of the UK and in doing so undermined the UK economy.
“Whenever our legal test is met, the CPS will always prosecute fraudsters such as those in this group and ensure they are held publicly accountable.
“In some cases we can go further with our Proceeds of Crime team recovering criminal assets so offenders do not financially benefit from their crimes.”
All six were sentenced to a total of 26 years and seven months on 21 February 2024.
Source: HM Revenue & Customs
