Sunday, October 18, 2009
Persimmon..associating themselves with corrupted accountants and mortgage lenders? And they're our councils 'preferred developer'? DISGRACEFUL!
Here is the latest story in the multi million pound fraud case that Persimmon were 'instrumental' in.
DARTFORD, ILFORD, WALTHAMSTOW. A crooked accountant has described how he was paid £100 a time to sign off false income statements by a gang of mortgage fraudsters. Stuart Roberts, 43, had ‘never heard’ of his supposed clients when he rubber stamped their financial records, a court heard.
A crooked accountant has described how he was paid £100 a time to sign off false income statements by a gang of mortgage fraudsters.
Stuart Roberts, 43, had ‘never heard’ of his supposed clients when he rubber stamped their financial records, a court heard.
Prosecutors say the accountant was employed by a gang of conmen as part of an elaborate scheme to swindle nearly £19m out of High Street mortgage lenders involving builders Persimmon Homes
Mastermind Alim Barry and his henchmen skimmed off profits of £3.5m by ‘selling’ dozens of luxury flats to penniless dupes, it is said.
Staff at Persimmon Homes – which built the flats and sold them to Barry – are said to have been ‘instrumental’ in the scam.
Barry fled abroad with much of the cash and has not been seen since, leaving his associates to face trial.
Jurors have heard the gang used a network of corrupt mortgage brokers, accountants and solicitors to create new financial histories for their ‘buyers’ so that banks would loan them the cash.
At Southwark Crown Court today, Roberts, who has admitted false accounting, described how he was paid to invent financial histories for potential mortgage applicants.
He said applicants’ details were faxed to him from two different mortgage valuing firms, the Direct Mortgage Centre (DMC) and The Money Superstore (TMS).
Brad Fisher, 44, and Sofiya Ahmed, 28, who both worked at TMS, and George Sourou, 43, of DMC, conspired with Barry to defraud lenders, it is claimed.
Asked how much he would have been paid for providing a years’ worth of fake accounts, Roberts told the court: ‘I would probably have got £100 for each year.
Pointing to one reference, in which he claimed an applicant had earned £81,205 in one year, he said: ‘I didn't want to make it a round figure, because that would look suspicious.
He also told the court he had ‘never heard’ of his supposed clients before.
In the dock alongside Fisher, Sourou and Ahmed are barry’s cousins Mohammed, 39, and Muctaru Barrie, 29, accountant Dean Dairo, 48, and solicitor Okwuchukwu Izuchukwu.
Another Barrie brother, Umaru, also fled the country while on bail.
The court heard Barry’s shell company Atrex bought the fats from Persimmon for £15.25m and sold them for £18.75m – a profit of £3.5m.
Mohammed Barrie, of (78) Pinewood Ave, Dartford, Kent; Izuchukwu, of (139) Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, East London; Ahmed, of (153) Howard Road, Walthamstow, East London; Dairo, of (20) Eastern Ave, South Ockendon, Essex; Fisher, of (33) Tiptree Crescent, Ilford, Essex; and Sourou, of (21) The Crescent, Ilford, Essex deny conspiracy to defraud mortgage lenders.
Muctaru Barrie, also of (78) Pinewood Place, Mohammed Barrie and Izuchukwu deny conspiracy to launder criminal property.
Joseph, of (4) Furham Field, Pinner, Middlesex, has admitted seven specimen charges of false accounting – six relating to TMS and one to DMC.
The trial continues.
ENDS
DARTFORD, ILFORD, WALTHAMSTOW. A crooked accountant has described how he was paid £100 a time to sign off false income statements by a gang of mortgage fraudsters. Stuart Roberts, 43, had ‘never heard’ of his supposed clients when he rubber stamped their financial records, a court heard.
A crooked accountant has described how he was paid £100 a time to sign off false income statements by a gang of mortgage fraudsters.
Stuart Roberts, 43, had ‘never heard’ of his supposed clients when he rubber stamped their financial records, a court heard.
Prosecutors say the accountant was employed by a gang of conmen as part of an elaborate scheme to swindle nearly £19m out of High Street mortgage lenders involving builders Persimmon Homes
Mastermind Alim Barry and his henchmen skimmed off profits of £3.5m by ‘selling’ dozens of luxury flats to penniless dupes, it is said.
Staff at Persimmon Homes – which built the flats and sold them to Barry – are said to have been ‘instrumental’ in the scam.
Barry fled abroad with much of the cash and has not been seen since, leaving his associates to face trial.
Jurors have heard the gang used a network of corrupt mortgage brokers, accountants and solicitors to create new financial histories for their ‘buyers’ so that banks would loan them the cash.
At Southwark Crown Court today, Roberts, who has admitted false accounting, described how he was paid to invent financial histories for potential mortgage applicants.
He said applicants’ details were faxed to him from two different mortgage valuing firms, the Direct Mortgage Centre (DMC) and The Money Superstore (TMS).
Brad Fisher, 44, and Sofiya Ahmed, 28, who both worked at TMS, and George Sourou, 43, of DMC, conspired with Barry to defraud lenders, it is claimed.
Asked how much he would have been paid for providing a years’ worth of fake accounts, Roberts told the court: ‘I would probably have got £100 for each year.
Pointing to one reference, in which he claimed an applicant had earned £81,205 in one year, he said: ‘I didn't want to make it a round figure, because that would look suspicious.
He also told the court he had ‘never heard’ of his supposed clients before.
In the dock alongside Fisher, Sourou and Ahmed are barry’s cousins Mohammed, 39, and Muctaru Barrie, 29, accountant Dean Dairo, 48, and solicitor Okwuchukwu Izuchukwu.
Another Barrie brother, Umaru, also fled the country while on bail.
The court heard Barry’s shell company Atrex bought the fats from Persimmon for £15.25m and sold them for £18.75m – a profit of £3.5m.
Mohammed Barrie, of (78) Pinewood Ave, Dartford, Kent; Izuchukwu, of (139) Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, East London; Ahmed, of (153) Howard Road, Walthamstow, East London; Dairo, of (20) Eastern Ave, South Ockendon, Essex; Fisher, of (33) Tiptree Crescent, Ilford, Essex; and Sourou, of (21) The Crescent, Ilford, Essex deny conspiracy to defraud mortgage lenders.
Muctaru Barrie, also of (78) Pinewood Place, Mohammed Barrie and Izuchukwu deny conspiracy to launder criminal property.
Joseph, of (4) Furham Field, Pinner, Middlesex, has admitted seven specimen charges of false accounting – six relating to TMS and one to DMC.
The trial continues.
ENDS
// posted by Chris McGlade @ 3:02 AM 
