PAYBACK TIME FOR LOTTO CON ARTIST
HAND OVER £419,000 - OR FACE ANOTHER FOUR YEARS BEHIND BARS
A FRAUDSTER who stole £1.5 million from Camelot and an online property firm has been ordered by a judge to pay back a hefty chunk of cash - or face more time in jail, writes Suzy Gibson.
Haroon Cassim, pictured, was told to stump up £418,922 from available assets within three months during a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Leicester Crown Court.
He faces a further four-and-a-half years behind bars - on top of the six-and-a-half year term he is already serving.
In June last year, Cassim was sentenced for defrauding Camelot and Yopa, an online property firm, while working in trusted positions at different times for both companies.
His wife, Sofina Sarwar, who was less involved, was told to hand back £99,774 that is already held in a frozen account.
A CONFIDENCE trickster who stole £1.5 million from National Lottery organiser Camelot and an online property firm has been ordered by a judge to pay back a hefty chunk of cash.
Haroon Cassim was told to stump up £418,922 from available assets within three months during a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Leicester Crown Court.
And if he doesn’t pay out he could be given a further fourand-a-half year sentence on top of the six-and-ahalf year term he is already serving for the offences.
His wife, Sofina Sarwar, who was less involved and played no part in the fraud, was ordered to hand back £99,774 that is already held in a frozen account - and she is not liable for sums owed by Cassim.
In June last year, Cassim was sentenced for defrauding Camelot and
Yopa, an online property firm, while working in trusted positions at different times for both companies.
The court heard he gambled away £800,000 of the £1.5 million he took.
The 37-year-old father-of-four also used the cash for a deposit on a Ferrari sports car and had executive boxes at both Manchester United and Leicester City.
Cassim admitted defrauding Camelot out of £960,000 between 2010 and 2013 and defrauding Yopa estate agency out of £505,000, between October 2017 and August 2018, by abusing his position as an employee.
His dishonesty resulted in charities and good causes losing out on £300,000 worth of lottery donations and grants, which would have helped hundreds of people.
He admitted laundering stolen cash through the bank accounts of his 36-year-old wife, who denied any wrongdoing in court.
However, she was convicted by a jury last summer of two money laundering offences and received an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with 150 hours of unpaid work.
Cassim, who is now behind bars, appeared in the dock for a confiscation hearing, but Sarwar was allowed to sit elsewhere in court.
Judge Timothy Spencer QC ordered that the confiscated sums from the pair, totalling £518,696, should be used to compensate both Camelot and Yopa.
During last year’s sentencing hearing, Andrew Peet, prosecuting, said: “The offences by Cassim were very well planned, involving the creation and invention of fictional businesses and invoices.”
Cassim forged documents and the signatures of his wife as well as coworkers and managers, putting others at risk of suspicion.
Cassim was employed in £45,000-a-year posts at the time he committed the offences.
The prosecutor said he used his wife as “a vehicle or enabler” to filter £1.2 million of the stolen money through her bank accounts - and she had “turned a blind eye.”
Sawar, during her trial, said she had “no idea” of her husband’s fraudulent activities and thought he was legitimately on a high income.
She told the court she had been duped by him.
The couple, who have no previous convictions, were living in a rented home in Danehurst Avenue, New Parks, Leicester, at the time of their arrest.
They were in the process of using £200,000 of ill-gotten cash towards buying a home in Kestrel Lane, Hamilton, in the city - but the sale was stopped. Cassim was also said to have transferred a large sum of money to South Africa.
Sarwar, who later moved to Beaumont Road, Luton, was said to have separated from Cassim, who also relocated to a nearby address in Luton, by the time they were sentenced.
Judge Robert Brown, who sentenced the pair last June, said Cassim committed “a gross breach of trust” and, had it not been for him, Sarwar would not have been in trouble.
He accepted that, apart from household shopping, she had not personally used the money she allowed through her bank accounts. Cassim’s sentence also included a six-year ban from holding any company directorship.
The offences were well planned, involving the creation and invention of fictional businesses and invoices Andrew Peet