Authorities in both jurisdictions helped to confiscate £4.1 million from corrupt financial adviser Adeel Mirza, who amassed assets which included numerous London homes, a Bentley, a Range Rover and cash held in UK and offshore bank accounts, including in Jersey.
Mirza was jailed in the UK for six years in 2013 for nine counts of fraud relating to criminal activity which involved arranging fraudulent mortgages for clients, including a heroin dealer and a corrupt solicitor.
Prosecutors then arranged the sale of nine houses across London – the majority of Mirza’s UK property portfolio – which were all registered to a trust in Jersey.
Now, after the funds were seized last year, Jersey’s Attorney General, Robert MacRae, signed a deal this week in the House of Commons with UK Solicitor General Robert Buckland to split the cash seizure 50/50. The money kept in Jersey will be held in the Criminal Offences Confiscations Fund.
Money from the fund has been used to pay for various projects, including partly funding the new £24 million police station.
