Bank fraud duo to face court in crime cash case

TWO former business managers at the NatWest bank are set to face a further legal hearing over their criminal activities.

Business manager Anzar Hussain, who was described as “the leading light” behind a £500,000 loans scam, and his “banking buddy” James Clegg were both given long prison sentences last year for their roles in the sophisticated fraud conspiracy.

But Clegg, 34, of Storths Road, Birkby, and 43-year Hussain, of Rayner Avenue, Bradford, are among five people who will be involved in a another crown court hearing in November under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The five-day hearing, which is due to start on November 27, is expected to involve legal arguments about the offenders’ benefit from criminal conduct and any available assets which could be confiscated.

The conspiracy, which could have netted the criminals up to £500,000, involved the authorisation of bogus business loans and the use of stolen identities of innocent people.

Hussain only got a job with the bank back in the late 1990s after he failed to reveal details of his previous convictions during the application process, but following his subsequent promotion to the post of business manager he became “the leading light” behind the scam.

Hussain’s so-called “banking buddy” Clegg processed 14 fraudulent business loans totalling £350,000 and created six more customer profiles which could have cost the bank another £150,000 if they had been successful.

Bradford Crown Court heard last May that in fact the bank lost around £290,000 as a result of the loans scam. Hussain, Clegg and nine other people were sentenced at the end of a 22-month inquiry which involved thousands of pages of documentary evidence and four separate trials.

Judge Jonathan Rose jailed Hussain for a total of six years and three months for offences of conspiracy to defraud and obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

Judge Rose said Hussain had used Clegg as a “shield” by getting his colleague to complete the loan applications in case the fraud plot came unstuck. Clegg, who had no previous convictions, was jailed for four years for his role in the scam. Judge Rose said the case was an illustration of how bank security could be significantly undermined from the inside by determined and intelligent employees motivated by greed. Prosecutor Chris Smith said a figure of £25,000 was used for each bogus business loan because that was the maximum amount which could be authorised by Hussain and Clegg at a local level. “These were loans being sought in the identities of genuine people,” said Mr Smith. “In many cases identities were stolen and the conspirators, in our submission, gave no thought as to the consequences that would befall those people. “Significant inconvenience was caused to people trying to unpick the loans obtained (in their names).”

These were loans being sought in the identities of genuine people