CourtNEWS orders fraudster to pay £126k
A FORMER businessman who led a criminal enterprise involving drug dealing and mortgage fraud has been ordered to pay back more than £120,000.
Shamsu Miah, 35, was jailed for 10 years in 2015 after he was convicted of money laundering, mortgage fraud and conspiring to supply cannabis.
He had set up a number of cannabis factories and made fraudulent applications for mortgages and laundered criminal money, as well as stealing a £37,000 Audi car.
He also perverted the course of justice and involved friends and family including his wife Rowjee Kaur, who was given a two-year suspended sentence.
A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing was held at Cardiff Crown Court to determine how much Miah would have to pay back, after he benefited to the tune of £1.2m from his crimes.
Miah, formally of Lansdowne Road, Cardiff, appeared via video link from prison and waved at the camera when the proceedings started.
The Recorder of Cardiff, Judge Eleri Rees, ordered Miah to pay back the sum of £126,976 within the next six months or he would face having another 12 months added to his sentence.
Miah was once the owner of Universal Foods and later the Rooster fast food outlet in Llandaff North.
At his sentencing in 2015, the court heard Miah had ambitions of building a property and business empire – but as debts mounted he became involved in fraud and drugs.