Three in court over £15million St Helens bank fraud

Oct 31 2007

breaking news

A GROUP of businessmen defrauded NatWest Bank out of more than £15 million, a court heard yesterday.

The money was transferred from a bank in St Helens, in five days between the end of April and early May 2004, Southwark Crown Court was told.

Most of it was then moved to a bank in Riga, Latvia and then to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, David Aaronberg, prosecuting, said.

He told the jury it was laundered through different companies by the men who created thousands of false documents to hide the scam. He also told the jury they used false identities and unregistered mobile phones.

A 45-year-old man from Cheshire, a 35-year-old man from Paisley, Scotland, a 33- year-old man from Liverpool and a 27-year-old man from Bootle, Merseyside are charged with conspiracy to defraud, laundering stolen money and falsifying documents. The men, who deny all the charges, cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Mr Aaronberg said: “The plan was a very simple one. I can explain it in a couple of sentences. The fraudsters aimed to obtain many millions of pounds from the branch of NatWest Bank in St Helens, and remove those millions from the UK as quickly as possible.

“They attempted to obtain over £20 million. They succeeded in obtaining over £15 million.

“Between April 30 and May 4, 2004, £15.25 million left the bank into the hands of fraudsters. By May 6, £13.5 million of that money was in a bank account in Riga, Latvia, most of it en route to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

“Along the way the money had been passed from company to company, in an attempt to disguise its origin and make it appear as though it was the proceeds of some sort of legitimate trading.”

Police are still searching for Sohail Ackrim, a businessman from Dubai, in connection with the fraud.

Ten other men will go on trial in connection with the fraud in January 2008.

The trial of the four men, before Judge Anthony Pitts, is expected to last four months.