Travel agents laundered £500m in four years for Asian underworld

Shahid Nazir Bhatti, 45, was jailed for three years at Bradford Crown Court after admitting conspiracy to launder the proceeds of criminal conduct.

Bhatti was the 11th person to be convicted in the connection with the huge fraud which was uncovered by Revenue & Customs officers in West Yorkshire in 2001.

A series of court cases, which could not be reported until restrictions were lifted today, have seen the 11 people sentenced to prison terms totalling almost 75 years.

Investigators found criminal gangs were ferrying hundreds of thousands of pounds a day up the M1 to be laundered in West Yorkshire.

According to a spokeswoman from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the officers targeted the activities of a number of travel agencies in the region which used the "hawala" system to transfer money abroad.

Hawala transactions are an ancient form of money exchange common in Asian countries, which bypasses much of financial regulatory system.

But investigators were alerted after financial institutions noticed the massive scale of some transactions.

The huge fraud was centred on agencies including the Bhatti family's Bradford Travel Centre where officers believe more than £42 million of illegal cash was laundered between 1999 and 2001.

Also involved were Watan Travel, with branches in Bradford and Birmingham, and Ramzan Travel, based in Halifax.

According to the spokeswoman, between December 1997 and February 2001 Watan Travel processed more than £333 million through its accounts.

This meant an average weekly taking of around £2 million. She said Watan deposited more than £80 million for one client into the banking system by flouting money laundering regulations and on one day in 1999 more than £3.3 million was paid into their business accounts.

The spokesman said that between 1997 and 2001, couriers working for sophisticated criminal gangs would collect huge sums of money from drug traffickers and dealers around the UK and would deliver it to premises in Leeds in West Yorkshire, for counting and sorting.

David Odd, HMRC Head of Investigation for Yorkshire said: "Literally hundreds of thousands of pounds in 'dirty cash' was being ferried up the M1 on an almost daily basis.

"The money was then deposited into business and personal accounts at various banking outlets, converted into foreign currencies, then transferred to accounts in the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and across Europe."

The conspiracy was broken in a series of raids on February 12, 2001. Mr Odd went on: "We hope that this sends a stark message to those who launder the proceeds of crime that we will bring them to justice, no matter what 'respectable' facades they may try to hide behind."

The judicial process was lengthened after a number of defendants took their cases to appeal at higher courts, leading to retrials.

Mr Odd said: "This has been a complex case. Having successfully obtained convictions once, we were obliged to do so again following an Appeal Court ruling.

"Although this ruling related to a point of law, and implied no criticism of HM Revenue & Customs, it meant the original convictions were quashed, and we were faced with retrials in all three cases.

"The fact that we have once again obtained convictions, despite a higher burden of proof second time around, bears testament to the quality of the investigative work that was undertaken."

The 11 convicted in a series of court cases since 2002 at Bradford and Leeds Crown Courts are:

• Amer Ramzan, of Heath Lea, Halifax. Owner of Ramzan Travel. Initially jailed for 12 years. This conviction was quashed on appeal and he was later jailed for nine years on second conviction.

• Faisal Malik, of Thirlmere Close, Leeds. Jailed for 10 years.

• Imran Syed, of Thirlmere Close, Leeds. Jailed for four years.

• Shahel Gazi, of Cubitt Street, Kings Cross, London. Jailed for two-and-a-half years.

• James Carr, of Halkyn Drive, Liverpool. Jailed for 10 years.

• Claire O'Brien, of Heywood Rd, Manchester. Jailed for two-and-a-half years.

• Shahid Nazir Bhatti, of Shipley Fields Road, Bradford. Owner of Bradford Travel Centre. Jailed for 10 years. His conviction was then quashed on appeal and he was later jailed for three years on second conviction.

• George William Cockerill, now deceased, of Tolmers Road, Cuffley, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. Jailed for three years.

• Liaquat Ali, 44, of Woodlands Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham. Jailed for 12 years. This conviction was quashed on appeal but he was later jailed for 12 years after second conviction.

• Akhtar Hussain, 46, of Skipton Road, Keighley. Jailed for 12 years. This conviction was quashed on appeal but he was later jailed for 12 years on second conviction.

• Mohsan Khan, 48, of Lance Way, High Wycombe. Jailed for eight years. This conviction was quashed on appeal but he was later jailed for five years on second conviction.