By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
TWO men have received prison sentences for their roles in a £266 million money laundering operation that used a Bradford scrap jewellery business to process criminal cash and buy gold for export to Dubai.
Baqa Haider, 51, received a six-year sentence at Leeds Crown Court. Nathan Rivers, 45, received a 27-month sentence, suspended for two years, with a curfew requirement.
West Yorkshire Police said the pair helped launder criminal cash on an “industrial scale”.
“The investigation, which began in 2016 and centred on activity at Bradford-based scrap jewellery business Fowler Oldfield Ltd, showed couriers from across the country regularly transporting bags full of cash to the premises,” police said.
“The cash – which was processed at a rate of £1.7m a day at times – was banked by the company and used to buy high purity gold grain, which was then shipped to Dubai under fake shipping invoices.”
Police calculated that “more than £266 million was paid into the Fowler Oldfield accounts from January 2014 to September 2016”.
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Investigators analysed invoices, emails and other paperwork and reviewed more than 8,000 hours of CCTV footage.
Police launched the investigation in 2016 after a security company raised concerns about a sharp increase in cash collections from Fowler Oldfield. Officers later searched the premises and two London businesses, including Pure Nines Ltd, and recovered more than £4 million in cash and gold.
Police found that Pure Nines mainly counted cash and helped facilitate the purchase and export of gold.
Haider and Rivers both pleaded their cases at trial, with the proceedings concluding in July. The court convicted both men of money laundering.
Four other men — Fowler Oldfield directors Daniel Rawson and Gregory Frankel, along with Haroon Rashid and Arjun Babber — received prison sentences last year for their roles in the scheme. Frankel, Rashid and Babber did not attend court. Police said they believe they have left the UK.
“Enquiries to locate them and secure their extradition back to the UK remain ongoing,” police said.
Samir Jagirdar, who owned and directed Pure Nines, pleaded guilty to money laundering and will receive his sentence at a later date.
Ramona Senior, who led the Economic Crime Unit during the investigation, said: “Those convicted of involvement in this criminal enterprise played their part in an operation that was laundering criminal cash on a truly industrial scale.”
She added: “Money laundering is not a victimless crime and those who involve themselves in it are helping criminals to prosper from the misery of others.”
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