Bank workers who stole £220,000 lived high life Crooks splashed out on holidays after targeting HSBC

TWO crooked bank workers splashed out on holidays and home improvements as one of them plundered more than £220,000 from HSBC.

Friends Abdul Khan and Mansoor Sanobar lived “extravagant lifestyles” way beyond what they could have afforded through their salaries.

They also withdrew money from cash machines on a regular basis.

Khan used his knowledge of the bank’s computer system to pull off the fraud.

The cash went to Sanobar’s credit card and accounts belonging to the pair, with the largest sum more than £125,000.

Police found more than £11,300 and over £2,000 of gold bullion in a bag at Khan’s home, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Michael Aspinall, prosecuting, said more than £14,000 had been transferred into foreign currency.

Khan, 32, of Heather Avenue, Walsall, who had previously admitted fraud, was sentenced to three years and two months.

Sanobar, 33, of Lord Street, also Walsall, was jailed for two years and 11 months after pleading guilty to transferring and converting criminal property. Both men joined the bank in 2010, with Khan employed as a senior collections associate, based at HSBC’s offices in Calthorpe Road, Edgbaston, and Sanobar an underwriter at an office in Edmund Street, in the city centre.

Mr Aspinall, prosecuting, said: “We say, in particular, Khan used his knowledge of the HSBC computer system to steal about £221,000.”

He said the bank had a system involving internal miscellaneous accounts which were used to provide refunds when there was a difficulty or some disagreement with a client’s account. Over a two-and-a-half year period between 2014 and 2016, Khan siphoned off large sums from those accounts, making multiple transactions.

Mr Aspinall said: “Both Khan and Sanobar were living extravagant lifestyles far beyond their means, making purchases of holidays and home improvements and withdrawing large sums of cash.”

Sanobar, he said, made purchases of around £105,000 and some of the cash was transferred to others.

“Those extravagant lifestyles were only made possible by money stolen from HSBC,” Mr Aspinall said.

Recorder Miles Watkins told Khan: “You abused your position of trust as an employee of the bank and you carried out your activities over a sustained period of time.”

Mohammed Riaz, for Khan, said: “He foolishly became involved in the fraud to assist his parents over their financial difficulties but, of course, there came a stage when it went beyond that and greed got the better of him.”

Khan said he had been too embarrassed to tell his wife and had brought shame upon his family.

Balbir Singh, for Sanobar, said initially he did not know the money had been obtained by fraud and it was only later that he became suspicious.

The jail terms were welcomed by Det Con Matt Cornell, who investigated the case.

He said: “These two men thought they could live the high life, funding their lavish lifestyle through stolen funds. The sentencing sends a very clear message to would-be fraudsters: you will be caught and punished.”