A former solicitor and head of a criminal gang which conned a string of high street banks into paying out 33 fake loans using bogus paperwork in just two months has been jailed for seven years.

On Thursday (16 February 2012), Southwark Crown Court heard how Mohammed Younas, 50, submitted false paperwork to Birmingham Midshires and Abbey banks in connection with 33 fraudulent mortgage applications between October and December 2008, a City of London Police press release stated.

Younas operated under the alias ‘Mahmood Ali’ and was the director of bogus Montague Mason Solicitors. He was at the helm of a fraudulent gang that consisted of Imran Mirza, 31, his brother Nadeem Mirza, 26, with Farhan Khan, 38, and his brother Khawar, 27. They took out mortgages on properties they didn’t own using false identities.

When police raided their properties in Nottingham and East London, they recovered £100,000 in cash and £43,000 in gold ingots. Younas’ fellow fraudsters were jailed in March 2010 to a total of 15 years. Around the same time Younas was struck off by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, reported the Financial Times.

The Court head how Younas and his co-conspirators had identified suitable properties across the south-east to use for false mortgage applications – with the homeowners unaware of the crime. The fraudulent mortgages were finalised when false paperwork was completed by the solicitors, and signed by Younas, including the Certificates of Title requesting the banks release the funds.

Once the deals were signed off and the funds transferred, the stolen money was quickly transferred from the solicitor’s account into a network of bank accounts, controlled by Younas and the rest of the ring. The money was then withdrawn in cash.

Younas and his partners-in-crime were caught after Abbey and HBOS asked to look into the activities of Montague Mason Solicitors, based in Essex, in March 2009.

Working in collaboration with the two banks, investigators uncovered an extensive criminal network that led them to execute search warrants at addresses across the UK in June 2009.

The Khan’s and Mirza’s were arrested during the warrants and were subsequently jailed having pleaded guilty to numerous fraud related offences in December 2009.

But ‘Mahmood Ali’ remained elusive, until detectives working with the DVLA were able to match ‘Ali’s’ driving licence image to one with the name of Mohammed Asif Younas. The licence provided was legitimate and detectives quickly swooped into his home address in Croydon, Surrey, to arrest him.

On searching his home, detectives recovered more false documents and items linking him to his alias and as a result he was charged with numerous fraud offences.

Speaking on the hearing Det Supt Bob Wishart, of the City of London Police, said: “Younas is a sophisticated fraudster who hid behind an alias to con banks and evade police.

“His meticulous planning and precise execution of this fraud ensured maximum gains – but the scale of his crime resulted in the lengthy sentence passed.

In November 2011, Younas had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to money launder. Last week saw him sentenced to seven years and four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for the respective charges, which will run concurrently.