A solicitor in Birmingham has had another year added to his four-year prison sentence on multi-million pound mortgage fraud charges, after trying to force a key witness to sign a false statement to vindicate him.
The court was told that Kamran Malik coerced the witness into going to an Italian restaurant and signing a pre-prepared statement just five days before the trial, in an effort to be cleared of the charges against him.
The 35-year-old was one of four men sentenced for fraud offences after their arrest in 2010 for conning bank lenders into loaning money for over-inflated property.
After the witness reported the incident to the police, another investigation into Malik began and he was arrested in May 2013, but Malik continued to lie to the police, saying that although he had written the statement, the witness had signed it of their own accord because it was ‘the truth.’
Malik was later charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on 3 January.
Tahir Shah Malik, 34, was also found guilty on eight fraud charges and jailed for seven years, whilst 25-year-old Umar Hussain and 42-year-old Iftab Hussain admitted entering or being concerned in money laundering.
The police began investigating the four in 2008 after numerous banks contacted officers concerning fraudulent lease agreements that had conned them out of 5.2 million pounds.
