Police still on hunt for fugitive tycoon
FRAUD SUSPECT FLED UK – ALONG WITH £104M IN STOLEN BANK CASH
HE was the prime suspect in one of the biggest bank frauds in UK history, his passport had been confiscated and he was wearing an electronic tag.
But somehow on June 10, 2011, Shaid ‘Lucky’ Luqman managed to fly out of Manchester Airport – along with millions of pounds in stolen money – and flee to Pakistan.
At the time Luqman, once one of Britain’s richest men, was being investigated for cheating Barclays, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland out of £104m.
But the suspect, formerly of Hale, fled the country before prosecutors could charge him.
Almost 10 years on Luqman, who left behind a trail of debt following the collapse of his £300m business empire, remains at large.
He 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.
But British police are determined that Luqman will eventually pay for his crimes.
Last week, his name appeared before the courts again. At the time he disappeared Luqman was also awaiting sentence for possessing cannabis resin and would have been punished for breaching the terms of his tag.
Sitting at Minshull Street Crown Court, a judge agreed to withdraw an arrest warrant for Luqman relating to the cannabis conviction after accepting there was no realistic prospect of him returning to the UK.
But a warrant for his arrest in relation to the fraud remains outstanding and detectives from the Serious Fraud Office have confirmed that he was still wanted in the more significant case.
Luqman built his property empire after buying his first house when he was student studying finance at Manchester University.
His property and finance empire – financed by bank loans – was worth £300m and his £250m personal wealth saw him placed 238th on The Sunday Times Rich List and named as one of Britain’s richest Asians.
But, in 2006, his 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 firm he ran, and had his business assets seized by administrators.
After two stints in prison, Luqman escaped jail for passport fraud – claiming he suffered from ‘flashbacks and panic attacks’ and was ‘not a well man.’
He was given a suspended prison sentence and was ordered to wear an electronic tag for three months.
But on June 10, 2011, he went on the run with what was described as ‘hundreds of millions of pounds in cash’ gained from Halifax, Barclays and Lloyds banks.
Luqman’s younger brother, Waheed, is also said to be in Pakistan, 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. Investigators fear £104m 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.’