Two Men Sentenced in £266m Bradford Money Laundering Scheme

Baqa Haider and Nathan Rivers sentenced at Leeds Crown Court for roles in a £266m money laundering operation centred on Bradford scrap jewellery firm Fowler Oldfield.

Two Men Sentenced Over £266m Bradford Money Laundering Operation

Baqa Haider, 51, of Bob Marley Way, Lambeth, and Nathan Rivers, 45, of Rathmell Road, Leeds, were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday for their roles in a £266 million money laundering scheme, Google News UK — Crime (en) reports, citing West Yorkshire Police.

The operation, centred on Bradford-based scrap jewellery business Fowler Oldfield Ltd, is believed to be the largest investigation into the laundering of criminal cash in UK legal history. West Yorkshire Police's Economic Crime Unit began its inquiry in 2016 and spent years conducting forensic analysis of invoices, emails, paperwork and more than 8,000 hours of CCTV footage.

Haider received a six-year prison sentence. Rivers was given a 27-month term, suspended for two years with a curfew requirement. Both were convicted of money laundering following a further trial that concluded in July this year.

How the Scheme Operated

Couriers from across the country regularly transported bags of cash to Fowler Oldfield's premises on Hall Lane, Bradford. At its peak, the business was processing £1.7 million a day. The cash was paid into the company's NatWest bank account and used to purchase high-purity gold grain, which was then shipped to Dubai under fake shipping invoices.

Between January 2014 and September 2016, more than £266 million was paid into Fowler Oldfield accounts. The scheme gave apparent legitimacy to criminal proceeds and allowed those involved to sidestep anti-money laundering checks they would have faced attempting to bank the cash or buy gold directly.

Banking records showed how deposits into the company's accounts grew from £11,000 in 2012 to more than £650,000 the following year. By 2015, annual payments had reached £95 million.

The Economic Crime Unit was first alerted in 2016 when a security firm raised concerns about the sharp daily increase in cash being collected from the premises. Officers subsequently carried out surveillance on the site and executed search warrants at Fowler Oldfield and at two London businesses in September 2016, including linked company Pure Nines Ltd in Hatton Garden. Sixteen people were arrested and cash and gold worth more than £4 million were recovered.

Internal CCTV at Fowler Oldfield showed staff running banknotes through automated counting machines and packing them for collection by legitimate cash-in-transit companies.

At Pure Nines, officers found a holdall stuffed with cash, an automated counting machine and bundles of banknotes in a safe. What appeared to be 147 gold bars were also discovered, but examination revealed only one was genuine gold; the remainder were silver bars gold-plated to give the appearance of a legitimate bullion business.

Key Figures in the Network

Investigators identified Shahid Qadar — described in court as an international money launderer based in Dubai — as the man who directed the majority of cash to Fowler Oldfield by 2016. Pure Nines Ltd, through which the cash deliveries and gold exports were coordinated, had been set up by Samir Jagirdar, owner and director of the company. Haider is Jagirdar's brother-in-law; both men created fake shipping invoices and travelled to Dubai to export and deliver the gold. Jagirdar pleaded guilty to money laundering before the trial and is due to be sentenced at a later date.

Earlier Sentences

In March last year, four men were sentenced following a trial at Leeds Crown Court. Fowler Oldfield director Daniel Rawson, 49, of Syke Green, Scarcroft, Leeds — the only defendant present in court — was sentenced to ten years and ten months. Fellow director Gregory Frankel, 48, from Shipley, received eleven years and eight months in his absence. Haroon Rashid, 56, of Toller Lane, Bradford, was given ten years in his absence, and Arjun Babber, 34, of Trevor Place, Westminster, was sentenced to eleven years in his absence. The three are believed to have left the country; efforts to locate them and secure their extradition are continuing.

Senior Officer's Statement

Ramona Senior, who headed the West Yorkshire Police Economic Crime Unit at the time and now leads the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit, said those convicted had played their part in laundering criminal cash "on a truly industrial scale."

"Behind every bank note that went through" the operation, Senior added, was the proceeds of serious criminality.

Proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act are ongoing against all those convicted.

Source: Google News UK — Crime (en)