Asian fraud mastermind now living in Dubai loses £90m property empire and Ferrari

LONDON: A self-styled British Asian clothing tycoon who sold counterfeit socks and pants while operating an extensive fraud ring will have all his UK assets seized after the Crown Prosecution Service won a court order to confiscate up to £90m worth of property and luxury cars, a UK judge has ruled.

Arif Patel, 57, from Preston, Lancashire, who has been on the run since 2011, will have homes and business premises he owned taken from him after a confiscation order granted by a judge at Chester crown court.

His Ferrari 575 Superamerica will be sold at auction, as will property in Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the court has ruled.

Patel masterminded a gang that was convicted in 2023 of one of the UK’s biggest VAT tax frauds in HMRC’s history. Carousel fraud involves chains of fake business transactions used to steal VAT repayments. Goods are moved between different companies in a circular pattern. This creates false export and import records used by criminals to claim back large sums from tax authorities.

His operation stole millions through VAT repayment claims on false exports of mobile phones and textiles. They also imported and sold counterfeit clothes. These would have been worth £50m had they been genuine. Patel also owned properties in Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

His restrained property assets will be sold and the money put back into the public coffers under the order.

During a 14-week trial, Patel and his co-accused, Mohamed Jaffer Ali, 61, of Dubai, were both found guilty in their absence of fraud and money laundering offences.

Richard Las, director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: "Arif Patel lived a lavish lifestyle at the expense of the law-abiding majority, but he will now lose the property empire he amassed from the proceeds of crime.

"Our work never stops at conviction. For the last two years, we've worked with police and CPS partners to secure one of the biggest criminal confiscations we've ever recovered."

Mark Winstanley, Assistant Chief Constable, Lancashire Constabulary, said: "Arif Patel was the head of a Preston-based organised crime group responsible for causing millions of pounds worth of losses to multiple companies.

"His actions, motivated by greed, directly impacted the taxpayer."

Patel ran his illegal scheme using Preston-based import/export company Faisaltex Ltd.

He travelled to Dubai in July 2011 and failed to return. He was tried in his absence at Chester Crown Court, where he was found guilty of all charges.

Together, Patel and Ali were sentenced in their absence to a total of 31 years in prison. The UK has a formal extradition treaty with Dubai.

Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor of the Crown Prosecution Service Proceeds of Crime Division, said: “The CPS has worked robustly with HMRC and Lancashire Police to ensure that Arif Patel could not keep the benefit from his fake counterfeit designer clothes scam and fraudulent VAT claims. In total, he must pay back more than £90 million or have more prison time added to his original sentence. In the last five years, £478 million has been recovered from CPS obtained Confiscation Orders, ensuring that thousands of convicted criminals cannot profit from their offending. Over £95 million of that amount has been returned to victims of crime, by way of compensation.”