Jailed for mortgage con: Fraudster on benefits claimed he earned £90k a year
A MAN on benefits lied about his income so he could take out mortgages worth nearly a quarter of a million pounds.
Akbar Ali Kaji was jailed for 32 months on Friday for fraud totalling £241,395 for mortgages for houses in Manchester, Hartlepool and Peterborough.
Prosecuting at Leeds Crown Court last Thursday, Paul Nicholson said Kaji, of Woodsome Estate, Batley, had been granted the loans after telling lenders he earned £90,000.
The 40-year-old told building societies he was self-employed and sought professional advice on how to become a landlord when he was actually claiming benefits, the court heard.
Mr Nicholson said the fraud, which took place between February and December 2006, came to light when the Department for Work and Pensions conducted an investigation into his claims for income support.
Kaji’s fraudulent applications left lenders with outstanding mortgage debts of £205,000 in total. Kaji pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud at Leeds Crown Court in June.
Mitigating, Holly Betke said Kaji, who is already serving a nine-month prison sentence for sexually assaulting young girls at a public swimming pool, wanted to stop claiming benefits and become a professional landlord.
She said: “There was an ill-thought-out business plan that he wanted to go into buying properties and letting them, then come off state benefits.”
She added that Kaji had not made any false documents or lied about his name and address, but simply gave the false figure of £90,000 to a mortgage lender over the phone.
The court also heard that an organisation had offered advice to Kaji about self-certified mortgages.
The 40-year-old had several meetings with one employee, who gave him instructions on how to set up a self-certified mortgage.
Sentencing, Judge Guy Kearl QC said Kaji had worked with this advisor to exploit a mortgage loophole and that the advisor planned to take two to five per cent of the profits as a finder’s fee.
He said: “These were, in my judgement, fraudulent applications from the outset.”
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Tuesday 21 May 2013
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