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Judge Hits Out At UK Border Controls After Mastermind of Large Banking Fraud Flees With No Passport
Judge hits out at border controls after alleged mastermind of Britain's biggest ever banking fraud flees despite no passport
Shaid Luqman managed to fly out of the UK despite having his passports confiscated
By Telegraph Reporters
8th June 2017 • 1:16pm
A judge has hit out at UK border controls after a tycoon suspected of masterminding Britain's biggest ever banking fraud was able to flee to Pakistan despite having no passport and whilst wearing an electronic tag.
Multi-millionaire Shaid Luqman, 48, flew out of Manchester Airport in 2011 - along with millions of pounds in allegedly stolen cash - after he left a trail of debt over the collapse of his £300m business empire.
Although his British and Pakistani passports had been confiscated and he was subsequently hauled into court for fraudulently attempting to get another one, Luqman - known as "Lucky" - sneaked passed airport security officials just two weeks after he was tagged and given a suspended jail term.
Despite a warrant being issued for his arrest, he remains on the run six years later and is apparently living the high life - having brazenly opened a shopping mall in Lahore, started his own fashion boutique and appeared in series of glossy magazine photo shoots.
"I must say I am quite surprised that he was able to leave the country with hundreds of millions of pounds and a curfew tag." Judge Angela Nield
This week Judge Angela Nield expressed surprise at how Luqman was able to escape during a review hearing over the arrest warrant in which no mention was made as to whether the authorities had made any progress in bringing Luqman back to the UK to face justice. Britain does not have an extradition treaty with Pakistan.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester Judge Nield adjourned the review until December but said: "He was never going to get back for his 9am curfew from Pakistan.
"I must say I am quite surprised that he was able to leave the country with hundreds of millions of pounds and a curfew tag. With the security at airports, my other half doesn't seem to be able to go anywhere without being searched. We will review the warrant in six months time and see if there has been any progress made then. "
Shaid Luqman was once one of Britain's richest men but his company collapsed amid allegations of dishonesty
Luqman built his property empire after buying his first house when he was student studying finance at Manchester University.
By the time he graduated in 1991 he owned 24 houses which he rented out to other students and after working in a bank formed his firm Lexi Holdings in 2000 which provided bridging finance to MPs, footballers and entrepreneurs looking to build property portfolios.
In 2004 he was named 'Young Entrepreneur of the Year' by Ernst and Young lived in a £5m secluded mansion in Hale, Cheshire drove a Bentley Continental GT and travelled in his own Gulfstream IV transatlantic business jet.
His property and finance empire financed by bank loans was worth £300m pounds and his £250m personal wealth put him 238th on The Sunday Times Rich List and he was named as one of Britain's richest Asians.
Shaid Luqman's passports had been confiscated and he had been fitted with an electronic tag before he fled the country
In 2005, Luqman boasted in an interview: "Overall, we are a billion-pound company. In 10 or 20 years, I want us to be as big as a high street bank."
But 2006 his property leasing company went into administration with debts of £100m amid allegations of dishonesty.
He was also banned from running a company for 15 years, branded "completely dishonest" by a High Court judge over a furniture firms he ran and he had his business assets seized by administrators.
He was then jailed for two years in July 2007 for contempt of court and found liable for more than £100m in funds allegedly misappropriated from his collapsed business empire. In 2009 he was jailed for another 12 months for contempt after he disposed of two Range Rovers and two valuable paintings and sold land in Pakistan.
In 2011 Luqman was arrested for a third time after he tried to apply for a new passport despite court orders banning him from applying for any travel documents. He falsely claimed his old passport had been mislaid in a house move and he needed the travel document to see his ailing parents who had been taken ill in Pakistan.
"Mr Luqman absconded to Pakistan despite having a curfew tag in and having taken what was described as hundreds of millions of pounds cash gained from Halifax, Barclays and Lloyds bank from fraud."
Prosecutor Ian Metcalfe
But on April 27 2011 he escaped jail for passport fraud after claiming he suffered from "flashbacks and panic attacks" and insisted he was "not a well man." He was given 10 months suspended for 18 months and was ordered to wear an electronic tag for three months. He fled the UK on June 10 of that year.
Prosecutor Ian Metcalfe said: "There has been a warrant outstanding for his arrest since 30 June 2011. On the 10 June Mr Luqman absconded to Pakistan despite having a curfew tag in and having taken what was described as hundreds of millions of pounds cash gained from Halifax, Barclays and Lloyds bank from fraud.
"There was a review last in the 8 December 2016 and we say the warrant should continue as these are serious matters. We presume that he did fly and that it was from Manchester airport."
Luqman's younger brother, Waheed, is also said to be in Paksitan and is also wanted by police in the UK having been jailed for seven-and-a-half years in his absence for fraud in January 2013.
At Waheed's trial the Serious Fraud Office prosecutors said the Luqman family had defrauded creditors of the company, including Barclays, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland between 2000 to 2006. Investigators fear £104million was siphoned out of the company to family in Pakistan. Shaid was described as the "prime mover" in the scam, aided by Waheed in what was a "family fraud".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...tains-biggest/
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