- Tariq Sarwar fraudulently transferred more than £3 million from the sale of a Salford commercial property
- Christopher Francis laundered the money through a network of accounts and companies, returning funds to Sarwar with creditors losing out
- Both men have been sentenced following investigations by the Insolvency Service
Two men who carried out a £3 million insolvency fraud and money laundering scheme have been sentenced.
Disqualified director Tariq Sarwar, 59, knew his company was in financial difficulty and likely to be wound-up when he sold commercial property in Salford – his company’s only substantial asset – for more than £5 million.
Sarwar fraudulently transferred more than £3 million from the proceeds of that sale without paying off his company’s debts to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and other creditors.
The money went to a food and drinks company controlled by Christopher Francis, 40, who laundered the funds through a network of accounts and other companies back to Sarwar.
While creditors were left owed more than £500,000, Sarwar and his family enjoyed a lavish lifestyle in the Cheshire countryside, including a six-bedroom home filled with designer products from Versace and Louis Vuitton.
His son even appeared on reality television programme Rich Kids Go Skint, filmed in the summer of 2019, where he admitted he had never been on a bus before and was chauffeured around in a Rolls-Royce.
Sarwar, of Gore Lane, Alderley Edge, admitted charges of fraudulently removing assets in anticipation of winding-up and acting as a company director while disqualified in April this year.
He was jailed for four years and banned as a company director for 10 years when he appeared at Manchester Crown Court on Friday 12 June.
Francis, of Letchworth Road, Luton, pleaded guilty in the middle of his trial last month to one count of money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
He was sentenced to two years and one month in prison, suspended for two years, at the same hearing.
Francis was also ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work.
The Insolvency Service has already started investigations to confiscate the funds.
David Snasdell, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said
Tariq Sarwar and Christopher Francis went to considerable lengths to hide their criminal actions, moving millions of pounds through a web of companies to cover their tracks.
Property companies do not hand more than £3 million to an unconnected food and drinks business out of generosity. This was fraud, plain and simple.
The Insolvency Service will continue to pursue confiscation proceedings to ensure Sarwar and Francis do not get to keep what was never rightfully theirs.
Daniel Hart, Senior Criminal Lawyer at the Insolvency Service, said
Tariq Sarwar diverted millions of pounds beyond the reach of creditors to maintain a luxury lifestyle, despite being disqualified as a company director.
Together with Christopher Francis, he sought to disguise the proceeds through a network of companies to evade detection. That attempt failed. The Insolvency Service traced the fraud and brought both men to justice.
The Insolvency Service is committed to targeting those who seek to hide criminality behind corporate structures and will take robust action against those who abuse the insolvency regime or engage in corporate abuse. Offenders can expect to be prosecuted and to face serious consequences.
Sarwar was disqualified as a company director for 11 years in November 2013. At the time, his company owed at least £1.6 million to creditors yet he arranged for more than a quarter of a million pounds to be paid to his personal benefit from an insurance claim.
The company went into administration less than eight weeks after this payment.
Sarwar’s disqualification prevented him by law from forming, managing or promoting a company without the permission of the court, which he did not have.
Despite this, he acted as director of A Property Management Limited between November 2014 and July 2018, and of Willowloch Limited for almost 10 years from April 2015 until his disqualification ended in November 2024.
In both instances, although other individuals were formally appointed as directors, Sarwar retained actual control of the companies.
A Property Management Limited’s trading activities were purchasing Langley Mill Business Park on Langley Road in Salford, renovating it and letting individual units to other businesses.
Willowloch Limited’s primary trading activity was the purchase and conversion of the former Stockport Police Station on Lee Street into flats.
The two companies were financially intertwined. Money was moved between them without clear justification, and funds from A Property Management Limited were used to service a loan that benefited Willowloch Limited.
HMRC applied to have A Property Management Limited wound-up in March 2018 after the company failed to pay £130,000 in tax.
Sarwar therefore knew that there was a realistic prospect his company would be shut down.
Just three months later, Langley Mill Business Park was sold for just under £5.1 million.
After mortgages and legal fees were paid off, Sarwar instructed A Property Management Limited’s solicitors to transfer the remaining amount to KYCA Trading Limited, a company directed by Francis.
Almost £3.1 million was moved within nine days of the sale.
By early July 2018, the entire sum had been paid into accounts belonging to six other companies.
Insolvency Service investigations traced £645,000 which had been subsequently transferred to a company whose directors were members of Sarwar’s immediate family.
A further £748,980 passed through a series of other companies before ultimately finding its way back to Sarwar’s own family business and into his personal business account.
When the Insolvency Service contacted Sarwar about his role in the sale of Langley Mill Business Park, he denied any involvement.
Francis claimed that more than £700,000 had been transferred as a deposit on five penthouses.
This was a transaction he could not name, document, or credibly explain.
Francis was disqualified as a company director for six years in March 2021 after failing to provide adequate accounting records for KYCA Trading Limited.
He claimed his car, containing his laptop and all business records, had been stolen and burnt out overnight.
HMRC were later repaid in full and other creditors eventually received a limited return on what they were owed.