"“We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried.” "


Chinese premier Wen Jiabao 12th March 2009


""We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we'd like to do our best to preserve that system."


Timothy Geithner US Secretary of the Treasury, previously President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.1/3/2009

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

£250 Million pounds stolen from UK Treasury

The stunning scale of theft from the Treasury by VAT fraud was underlined in July 2003, when 350 officers raided 93 premises across the UK and Spain, and made 42 arrests.

Today Customs officers made 10 arrests nationwide (In addition, European arrest warrants have been issued in France and Spain against four individuals. ) after 5 years investigating a suspected £250 million VAT missing trader fraud.

More than 500,0000 documents , 361 hard drives have been systematically examined, along with the hard drives of 391 computers

Those arrested are alleged to be the operators a sophisticated network of companies that 'carouselled' large quantities of mobile phones, buying them VAT-free from the continent to supply to businesses in the UK, and then defaulting without paying the VAT due.

Those arrested are

* Curtis Laurent (dob 30.9.58) 56 Ty Draw Rd, Roath Park, Cardiff, CF23 5HD.
* Marcus Hughes (8.9.70) HMP Dovegate, Uttoxeter, ST14 8XR.
* Keith Bennett (4.8.61) Beechwood House, 14 Brownswood Rd, Beaconsfield,
HP9 2NU.
* Hashib Apabhai (20.4.60) 1 The Gatehouse, Gatehouse Lane, Bedworth, CV12 8UE.
* Mohammed Novsarka (15.3.61) 216a Coventry Rd, Warwickshire, CV7 9BH.
* Peter Ebbrell (13.5.51) 3 Abberton Way, Coventry, CV4 7HF.
* Keith Ponder (20.11.50) Furzefield House, 3 Furzefield Road, Beaconsfield,
HP9 1PQ.
* Amir Naghibossadat (6.9.70) Flat 43 Clarendon Court, 33 Maida Vale, London
W9 1AJ.
* Sampson Goldstone (17.4.75) 2 West Lynn, Devisdale Rd, Bowdon, Cheshire.

Apabhai, Novsarka and Goldstone have been charged with money
laundering offences.

Goldstone was arrested at Heathrow Airport yesterday evening, Monday 5 February 2007 and subsequently charged. He has property and spends a lot of time in Monaco.

A 10th man and a 37 year-old woman were arrested late this afternoon

These arrests relate to frauds allegedly perpetrated up to July 2003 - best estimates are that it continues at the rate of £400MN a month, every month throughout 2006 AT LEAST. Recovery of thewse vast amounts of cash is negligible - it is used further to fund drugs, human trafficking, fraud, terrorism, gun running, diamond and tobacco smuggling.

Hashib Apabhai has cropped up trading as Kings Chambers from his luxury house on a gated estate as a lawyer but is unknown to Law Society and the Bar Council. The DTI tried to close down 2 property companies he was involved with Sterling Mansion (UK) and SMI Overseas who had employees who then went on to work for Properties of Distinction and Turningpoint who in turn were connected to CM2 (commenced trading Jan 2003) , all trading from the same address in Peterborough which fleeced "investors" in 2003.

Curtis Laurent was disqualified as a Director for 11 years from 26/05/2006 relating to his activities as a Director of Sava Ltd Co No 04204698 UNIT 12 MAESGLAS INDUSTRIAL ESTATE NEWPORT who closed with a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation of £6,273,791.00.

It appears Mr Laurent from 20/1/04 to 3/4/04 ( that's 6 fucking weeks !) , allowed Sava Ltd.,to Purchase goods worth, at least, £23,331,538, with no VAT payable, from suppliers based in Portugal and Luxembourg . Selling these goods for the sum of £27,585,342 including VAT of at least £4,108,454, to customers in the UK. Making payments of, at least, £7,543,800 to parties other than the supplier of Sava, Mr Laurent disregarded the suspicious circumstances surrounding a number of transactions involving the supply of mobile telephones and computer components, which should have alerted him to the risk that the VAT payable to HM Revenue & Customs & Excise in respect of the supplies would go unpaid. Which resulted in HM Revenue & Customs claiming the amount of £6,170,964 in respect of unpaid VAT and charges.

£6.1 Mn in 6 weeks. Cash in the Bank from HMG.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr Apabhai's involvement in CM2, Portfolios of Distinction and Turning Point Seminars was to recover money on behalf of many investors in these Companies (over 170).

The Official Receiver's Office corroborated the evidence put together by Mr Apabhai (a legal investigator) and as a result action is being taken (through a liquidation) against a Major High Street Bank and the DTI.

ziz said...

Dear Mr/Miss Anonymous

Your remarks about the role of Mr Hashib Apabhai in the tangled affairs of the CM2 Group etc., are of great interest.

CM2 Services was set up January 2003, Ian Laird, Wendy Dowling and Alan Churchill were involved in this and 8 associated companies and they had a brief life until December 2003 after many "investors", credulous, or greedy, certainly ill advised, lost a lot of unrecovered and no doubt, irrecoverable money.

Jonathan Russen of Maitland Chambers who acted In In the matter of Portfolios of Distinction Ltd: and of Turning Point Seminars Ltd (2006) in their Liquidation is a highly qualified and skilled Barrister. However the details and exact nature of all the financial transactions of the various players, the role of Ros and Rob Slater and their so called "CM2 Action Group"who recommended 'legal adviser' Hashib Apabhai to co-ordinate their actions is (and probably will remain ) unclear.

It appears that in an e-mail circulated to the "CM2 Action Group" on June 19 2004, Mr Hashib Apabhai claimed to have met Lloyds TSB bank to deal with their claims the previous day. Lloyds TSB says no such meeting took place. It appears he


Thank you for your remarks about the role of Mr Hashib Apabhai in the tangled affairs of the CM2 Group etc.,

CM2 Services was set upJanuary 2003, Ian Laird, Wendy Dowling and Alan Churchill were involved in this and 8 associated companies and they had a brief life until December 2003 after many "investors", credulous, or greedy, certainly ill advised, lost a lot of unrecovered and no doubt, irrecoverable money.

Jonathan Russen of Maitland Chambers who acted In In the matter of Portfolios of Distinction Ltd: and of Turning Point Seminars Ltd (2006) in their Liquidation is a highly qualified and skilled Barrister. However the details and exact nature of all the financial transactions of the various players, the role of Ros and Rob Slater and their so called "CM2 Action Group"who recommended 'legal adviser' Hashib Apabhai to co-ordinate their actions is (and probably will remain ) unclear.

It appears that in an e-mail circulated to the "CM2 Action Group" on June 19 2004, Mr Hashib Apabhai claimed to have met Lloyds TSB bank to deal with their claims the previous day. Lloyds TSB says no such meeting took place. It appears he (Mr Hashib Apabhai) later told investors that Lloyds was ready to settle with some of them. The bank apparently denies any such offer.

Should readers wish to pursue the matter they may Google etc., any of the above names of individuals, and companies when they may form a a more considered opinion of the role of Mr Hashib Apabhai.

Claims against the DTI (and Ministers )in this matter, however pursued, are unfounded, preposterous and an unwarranted waste of time and if advanced would no doubt be considered as vexatious.

It appears that the matter is now in the hands of the Official Receiver to whom any enquiries should be made.

Anonymous said...

dear postman patel. did you ever find out what happened about the cm2 scam and ian laird, wendy dowling etc?

Anonymous said...

I see that from reports of 24th July 2008:

Following the three-month trial, at Southwark Crown Court, Taher Majid and co-defendants Abdul Koser, 42, and Quentin Reynolds, 45, were convicted of a conspiracy to cheat the public revenue between May 1 2001 and August 1 2003.

Two remaining defendants Peter Ebbrell, 51, and Curtis Laurent, 49, are facing a retrial after the jury of eight men and four men failed to reach a verdict after more than 50 hours deliberation.

Anonymous said...

£250 million pounds!!!! wow thats more than what Beckams worth! hes only worth £50m!!
Welsh boy Majid is indeed worth a lot! Wonder if he'll feature in the UKs to 10 richest???
The prosecution said hes got the money put away in Pakistan and they couldnt recover it from there and he was always travelling on his false passports to go and hide it!

Anonymous said...

Does anyone kow whether there is going to be a re-trial for Peter Ebbrell & Curtis Laurent?

If so, does anyone know details of the re-trial?

Is there a way of finding out the above information (e.g. from HMRC, CPS or the Court Service? Thanks in advance.

Anonymous said...

Hashib Apabhai and his son esa Apabhai were charged and convicted last week at Southwark Crown Court. Hashib got 7 years while his son esa got 6.

Anonymous said...

Adam Amani, Esa and Hashib Apabhai were convicted on 7/8th Jan 2010.

Hunter's trial is scheduled for Feb 2010

Halliday's trial is scheduled for April 2010.

Ebbrell and Laurent's trial is scheduled for Sept 2010. Yes that is a re-trial due to a hung jury in July 2008 trial.

Anonymous said...

Mr D Hunter has now been moved into the Sept 2010 trial alongside Mr Ebbrell and Mr Laurent.

Anonymous said...

What about adam amanis aka mr novsarka?

Anonymous said...

I hope they all rot in prisons they call them selves gud muslims, THEY DO THE CRIME FIRST THEN THEY GO LOOKING PREIST FOR THEM TO PRAY FOR THEM HOW FCKING STUPID ARE THESE PEOPLE AND FCKING ADAM ARMANI STILL THINKS HES SUM SORT OV BIG SHOT HOW ABOUT TAKING EVERDON ESTATES OFF HIM ALSO LIKE HIS WOUNDERFULL BIG HOUSE OV U .

Anonymous said...

Where the hell is King Prawn? Last I heard he was snorkelling off the coast of Dubai feeding tp tadpoles to the fishes and trying to find wig for his little prawn. Any news anyone?

Anonymous said...

Mr Ian Laird is certainly not rotting in prison and is in fact living a very comfortable lifestyle or so he boast flitting from the midlands to the south coast.

The man boasts about his assets yet looks likes he got off scot free.

Typical of the English Justice system.

Anonymous said...

Dennis Hunter and Peter Ebbrell were both found guilty by unanimous verdicts at Southwark on 1st Nov 2010. 17th Nov and 26th Nov are the dates set by Judge for sentencing.

Anonymous said...

Peter Ebbrell was sentenced today to 4 years 6 months.

Anonymous said...

Mr Hunter was sentenced to 9 years minus 2 years already served on remand.

Unknown said...

So what happened to Mrs Joanne Halliday's trail, did she get sentenced???

Anonymous said...

Halliday and Laurent's trial has started and is currently ongoing. It began end of Feb

Anonymous said...

H Apabhai's appeal was rejected at the Court of Appeal in March 2011. He including others face confiscation proceedings.
Basically screwed!!!

Anonymous said...

Koser got an extra 4 year on top for £800,000 Proceeds of Crime, he started the sentence on the day he was due out OUCH.
Does anyone know how Reynolds and Majid faired on the POCA

Anonymous said...

Koser got an extra 4 year on top for £800,000 Proceeds of Crime, he started the sentence on the day he was due out OUCH.
Does anyone know how Reynolds and Majid faired on the POCA

Anonymous said...

Is Hallidays trial over yet?

Anonymous said...

Nassa Khan from The Accessory People was charged a few months back. However, it seems that the Judge who precided over the last 4 yrs will not be sitting at this and any future cases related to this operation.

It's a poison chalice for any Judge to take these kind of cases on.

I believe J Halliday and C Laurent are currently awaiting a decision while Jury are deliberating.

Anonymous said...

Halliday and Laurent both found Guilty. I believe 19th April 2011 is sentencing.

Anonymous said...

let us all know what the outcome is. Halliday is likely to get a right shafting.i bet 7 years.

Anonymous said...

Halliday and Laurent both sentenced to 2 yrs 10 months.

Confiscation is scheduled for 10/11th October 2011.

Anonymous said...

Can't believe Halliday got off so lightly

Anonymous said...

me niether but they havent done poca yet

Anonymous said...

It seems that Judge Rivlin may be running Nasir Khan's case.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know what happened to Esa Apabhai? Is he still in prison?

Anonymous said...

how much did Halliday actually steal then and who was top dog was it jonathan frost

Anonymous said...

I hear Esa is out, When is the confiscation order on all three likely to be, Hashib, Esa and Amani, does anyone know and what the sum is for each one?

Anonymous said...

i thought esa was out in October.

How come KP is still on the run when most of the world knows where he is, HMRC not that bothered now they have some heads.

(C) Very Seriously Disorganised Criminals 2002/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 - copy anything you wish