Jail for immigrant who built a mansion from benefit fraud

Nawaz Sharif - unemployed for the past 11 years - amassed a £2 million fortune through property, selling luxury cars and various criminal activities.

The fraudster, forger and "Mr Fixit" - who helped fellow immigrants evade traffic fines - was jailed after his life of crime was brought to an end.

The 37-year-old father of three, who came to Britain in the late eighties, was based in Slough, Berkshire.

When police, immigration officials and benefits investigators arrested him in December 2005 they found an Aladdin's cave of crime-related items.

These included more than 35 forged credit cards and 30 passports, numerous envelopes stuffed with hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash and two copies of Home Office stamps used to allow immigrants permission to stay in Britain.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds were found to have passed through bank and building society accounts in his name and those of his wife, children and immediate family.

In one Westminster bank account alone funds totalling £555,474.96 were cleared shortly before his arrest and another Halifax account saw transfers totalling £267,000.

In all he had at least 13 different bank accounts.

Investigators believe Sharif was charging illegal immigrants between £2,000 and £5,000 to mark their passports with the counterfeit stamp. This allowed them to remain in the country illegally after they had been "doctored" by Sharif.

Last night Sharif was beginning a five-year jail term after pleading guilty to a total of 34 charges involving theft, dishonesty, false accounting and the use of false instruments. Jailing him at Reading Crown Court, his honour Judge Critchlow told him: "Anybody hearing the facts who was a law abiding citizen would be appalled by what you have done."

It emerged during the lengthy investigation into Sharif that while he was falsely claiming housing and council tax benefits from Slough Borough Council he was transferring hundreds of thousands of pounds back to his native Pakistan.

Investigators found architects' plans for a £70,000 seven bedroom and seven bathroom mansion built in the Pakistan capital of Islamabad.

Earlier this year the Daily Mail toured the property which is being rented by a doctor and his young family for £4,000 a year.

The house is in one of the most select suburbs of the city and is now said to be worth £250,000. Not content with claiming more than £40,000 in housing and council tax benefits, Sharif - a former minicab driver - helped hundreds in the Asian community to escape fines for driving offences.

The court heard that when NIPs - notices of intention to prosecute - were sent to drivers who had been caught by Gatso cameras either jumping red lights or speeding Mr Sharif was the man who could solve the problem.

For a fee of between £100 and £200 he would instruct the guilty parties to send the prosecution notes to properties he was linked to. He would then claim that the named driver was "no longer known" at the address and the investigation would cease.

On one occasion he charged a minicab driver £100 for this service - and then increased it by £100 on each occasion. The same driver came to him for help rather than have points on his licence. On the sixth occasion he paid Sharif £600 to get him off the driving charge.

Thames Valley Police's Economic Crime Unit is currently investigating Mr Sharif and believes almost £2 million has been transferred from his accounts in the past few years - with that figure including luxury cars he has bought and sold. He is thought to have sent at least one Mercedes and a top of the range BMW to Pakistan.

On one occasion he purchased a BMW X5 for £48,000 using his Switch card. A few months later he sold the vehicle for cash to a London car dealer.

"This is a typical ruse used by people wishing to launder money quickly," said a senior police source. Last night, having jailed Sharif for five years, the judge ordered him to repay Slough Borough Council £43,823.63 and settle their costs of £30,000.

He was also told he will be subject to court proceedings in the new year to compensate further monies thought to have been the "proceeds of crime".

Investigators may yet travel to Pakistan to view the property it is claimed he bought using British housing tax benefits.