Overview

• A Chester Crown Court judge on 28 August ordered Arif Patel to repay £90,503,211 through the sale of properties in Preston, London and overseas, with his Ferrari 575 Superamerica to be auctioned.
• HMRC said the recovery will return tens of millions to public services following a two-year proceeds-of-crime push with Lancashire Police and the CPS.
• Patel was convicted of fraud and money laundering in his absence after a 14-week 2023 trial and remains at large in Dubai, where he fled in 2011.
• Co-accused Mohamed Jaffar Ali, 61, described as Patel’s financial enabler in Dubai, received a separate confiscation order for £677,000.
• Investigators said the network used carousel VAT claims on bogus exports of textiles and mobile phones and sold counterfeit clothing, funding a property empire held via offshore structures in the UK, Morocco, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.