Leicestershire Police has confirmed that a solicitor and his practice manager have both been jailed for their part in an elaborate fraud after they duped a potential house buyer.

Both defendants operated at Sterling Law Solicitors in Loughborough.

Syed Gous Ali was the manager and Hashok Parmar was the sole solicitor at the company.

Their law practice wasn’t able to offer conveyancing so they sub-contracted that part to another law firm.

The defendants attempted to sell properties in London that were not on sale but rented out by the owners.

This offence is known as a type of a property take-over fraud which means a property is taken over by fraudulently changing the property deeds/titles or by persons purporting to be the owner.

This can happen when the property is owned outright and is rented out. The owner’s identity is assumed to carry out the fraud.

In 2015 officers received a report from a solicitor’s firm on behalf of the client who believed he had purchased a house in London.

The buyer never came face-to-face with the seller and fraudulent identification documents were provided to solicitors which confirmed the identity of the owners.

As a consequence the solicitors and buyer had reason to doubt the authenticity of the sale.

It later transpired that the sale was fraudulent and the property was never on sale nor did the rightful owners know anything about what had occurred.

The investigation revealed Ali provided bogus paperwork to confirm the identity of the sellers to the conveyancing solicitors.

Following the transfer of £240,000 the money was transferred to other accounts overseas and withdrawn in cash which was paid into various bank accounts including ones belonging to Ali and a solicitor’s account associated with Parmar.

Attempts were made to sell two further properties in London in similar circumstances however on one occasion the seller’s solicitor became suspicious and on the other inadequate identification documents were provided, so the defendants were unsuccessful.

Both men were subsequently charged with conspiracy to commit frauds to the value of over £3 million and money laundering to the value of £240,000.

Both men were sentenced on June 1st at Leicester Crown Court.

Ali, (46) of Pinfold Gate, Loughborough, pleaded guilty to four offences at a hearing in May 2019, he was sentenced to six years in prison.

Parmar, 63, of Howard Street, Loughborough, was found guilty of three of the four charges following a trial at Leicester Crown Court between February and March this year.

He was also sentenced to six years in prison.

Detective Constable Matthew Swift of the force’s economic crime unit, said: “This was a lengthy and complex investigation which has taken more than four years to get to this stage.

“Between the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015 attempts were made to sell three properties.

“Each sale had the same MO – a person would pretend to be the real owner and would agree a sale to an innocent purchaser.

“The properties were in London but the conveyancing would be conducted by firms of solicitors in Leicester introduced by Ali or Parmar.

“Luckily solicitors for two of the three sales became suspicious and the defendants were unsuccessful.

“Ali attempted to cover his tracks by ensuring the conveyancing solicitor never had any cause to contact the seller’s directly.

“He provided bogus documentation and claimed he knew the sellers of the property and would verify their identity.

“Parmar also introduced a ‘seller’ of a £3 million property to a solicitor’s in Leicester.

“We are pleased this investigation has subsequently led to both men being convicted for their crimes.

“It will hopefully go some way in reassuring the community that we can and will investigate such offences and bring those responsible to justice, and deter others from committing sophisticated frauds.”