Fraudsters jailed after being found guilty in a non-jury trial

A gang of fraudsters who tried to steal more than £800,000 have been convicted after being found guilty at a trial without a jury.

Shahid Mohammad, Zahid Mohammed, Mohammed Maroof, Adnan Sharif, Mohsan Hussain and Usman Sharif were convicted by a judge in March this year of defrauding HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) out of money using more than 90 shell companies straight fronts.

Jurors in their trial were discharged in November following reports of jury tampering, with the Court of Appeal ruling in January that the judge could continue the trial alone because delaying the proceedings would cause “immense inconvenience”.

All six men were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, with five receiving suspended sentences and Shahid Mohammad being jailed for six years.

HMRC said the gang used 91 shell companies to file tax claims and VAT refunds worth around £470,000 between January 2015 and November 2016.

Fraudsters have set up a fake recruitment firm to steal identities and list people as directors of bogus car dealerships without their knowledge, using vacant Midlands addresses for their bogus dealerships.

Personal information stolen through the recruitment firm was used to record sales of fabricated vehicles and complete car finance deals with lenders, with money then transferred and withdrawn in cash.

The firms were used to make fraudulent VAT refund claims, with further payments worth around £380,000 blocked by HMRC.

A trial began at Birmingham Crown Court on September 4 last year and the jury begins deliberations on November 13.

But two weeks earlier, a juror was allegedly approached and given a lift by someone outside the court who suggested the defendants were their friends.

The next day, the same juror was allegedly approached by another person who suggested that a defendant was their cousin and that they were concerned that they were “degrading.”

The juror did not tell anyone about the alleged incidents until deliberations began, with the jury being discharged on November 17.

Legally, a judge can continue a trial without a jury if there is evidence that forgery has occurred or will occur, provided it is fair to the defendants.

But lawyers for Shahid Mohammad, Usman Sharif and Adnan Sharif took the case to the Court of Appeal, arguing that the judge’s decision to proceed alone violated their right to a fair trial.

Three senior judges rejected his application, with Chief Justice Baroness Carr saying it was “never too late” for a judge to take over a trial if the “integrity of the jury” was compromised.

After the retrial, the men were convicted in March and sentenced by Judge Andrew Smith at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday.

A seventh man, Nathan Downes, will be sentenced on May 20.

Following the sentencing, Mark Robinson, operational head of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “Shahid Mohammad and his criminal gang have caused utter misery for dozens of innocent people whose stolen details were used in this fraud.

“Huge effort and planning has gone into committing these crimes, which have stolen much-needed money from our public services.

“We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to track down the small minority who commit these types of crimes and urge anyone with information about tax evasion to report it to HMRC online.”

Shahid Mohammad, 31, Zahid Mohammad, 30, and Maroof, 28, all from Derby, were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the public revenue, with Shahid Mohammad also found guilty of two counts of fraud.

Usman Sharif, 41, and Adnan Sharif, 43, from Birmingham, were also convicted of conspiracy to defraud the public revenue, while Hussain, 25, also from Birmingham, was found guilty of money laundering.