London mortgage broker guilty of tax fraud

A London mortgage broker who lied about his company profits to evade almost £115,000 in corporation tax has been found guilty of involvement in a tax and mortgage fraud.

He was found guilty of falsifying applicants’ income and employment details and at a separate hearing pleaded guilty to cheating HMRC. The Revenue is pursuing the £115,000 owed and confiscation proceedings have started by the police to recover criminal profits.

It was a joint investigation by HM Revenue and Customs and the Metropolitan Police that discovered Asim Hussain, the director of Lifestyle Mortgages (Middlesex) Ltd, had diverted company income into other bank accounts to reduce the profits of his company and pay less corporation tax.

Hussain then spent the money to finance a property in Dubai, overpay on his mortgage and buy land as an investment.

The case was referred to HMRC and MPS by the Financial Conduct Authority’s predecessor, the Financial Services Authority, when Hussain trading as Lifestyle Mortgages (Ealing), was struck off as a mortgage advisor and banned from the financial services industry. 

The FSA became suspicious when a lender highlighted its concerns regarding discrepancies in relation to mortgage applications submitted by Hussain, which were based on false and misleading information.