Rochdale men sentenced following fraud case

Mohammed Razzaq

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Two men from Rochdale are amongst four people who have been sentenced after they took over a company to buy goods and did not pay for them.

Mohammed Razzaq, 43, of Higher Wheat Lane, Rochdale pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud during the trial and was jailed for three years six months. He was disqualified from being a director of a limited company for seven years.

Mohammed Zia, 49, of Higher Wheat Lane, Rochdale pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and was jailed for two years. He was disqualified from being a director of a limited company for five years.

Tanweer Ahmed, 42, of Elmlea, Altrincham was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and jailed for four years. He was disqualified from being a director of a limited company for seven years.

Asma Ahmed, 36, of Windsor Road, Oldham, was found guilty of fraud by false representation and sentenced eight months suspended for two years and was given a 150 hours community order.

On sentencing, the judge commended the police investigation that led to the four being convicted.

In January 2008, they took over the ownership of QV Stores Ltd, running its office from Bradford and Rochdale.

QV Stores Ltd specialised in poundshops during the mid 2000s with 50 shops across England.

In June 2008, Greater Manchester Police received an allegation relating to conspiracy to defraud and false accounting following an investigation into the company after suspiciously favourable accounts had been filed. Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) of the Department of Business at Manchester had received information regarding the company and had instigated an initial investigation. Close liaison between GMP and CIB meant that the offenders were identified and arrested, and allowed for a full criminal investigation commence.

Investigations revealed that the men had used false names to buy the firm. They ordered staff to contact wholesale suppliers, obtain terms of credit by relying on credit references, using the previous owner’s name. Goods were supplied, usually on 30 day credit terms, and delivered to a warehouse in Manchester. These items were not used to restock the stores but were sold on to buyers, unknown by members of staff.

In June 2008, the company collapsed owing debts of £1.5 million to over 80 creditors. The head office and poundshops across the North West were forced to close resulting in the loss of large numbers of jobs.

Razzaq and Zia were arrested on the 11 July 2008 on the day they were attempting to wind up the company. Tanweer Ahmed was arrested in March 2011 at Heathrow Airport after entering the UK using a different name.

Asma Ahmed was arrested in October 2009 after she provided false documents to a mortgage company when attempting to buy a property in Altrincham owned by Tanweer Ahmed.

Detective Constable Julian King from Greater Manchester Police’s Economic Crime Section said: “Over a six month period, Razzaq, Ahmed and Zia managed to destroy the company for their own selfish needs. They applied what was in reality only a veneer of respectability to a once trusted company, which they had set on a course of irreversible criminality. Not only did they con the firms they owed money to, but they played on the trust their employees showed the owners. They repaid this trust by ensuring the staff lost their jobs.”