Fraudsters ‘laundered more than £1.2million stolen from property tycoon Nick Candy in sophisticated con’
- The gang of fraudsters laundered more than £1.2m in a sophisticated operation
- Money was stolen from property tycoon Nick Candy and passed to launderers
- It was distributed through 47 payments and withdrawals in different businesses
- Naushad Chandia, 60, of Stockport, denies conspiracy to launder money in 2016
A gang of fraudsters laundered more than £1.2m stolen from property tycoon Nick Candy in a sophisticated operation, a court heard.
Naushad Chandia, 60, is accused of helping drain an RBS bank account containing the proceeds of the fraud.
The cash was distributed through a series of 47 small withdrawals and payments.
Mr Candy, who is married to actress turned pop singer Holly Valance, was defrauded out of the large sums in 2016.
Businessman Robert Harriss, 51, hacked the email of an executive of Mr Candy’s Hong Kong branch to trick an employee into transferring the £1.25m into his account, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Harriss denied the fraud but was jailed for four years after trial in January last year.
Now Chandia has appeared in court to deny conspiring to conceal the proceeds of crime between April 06 and May 21 2016.
A gang of fraudsters conned Mr Candy, who is married to the Australian actress Holly Valance (pictured together), out of more than £1.25million in 2016. A man has now appeared in court accused of being part of a gang of fraudsters who laundered the cash through a series of small withdrawals and payments
Prosecutor John Hughes said: ‘We are dealing in this case with moneys that resulted from a scam that took place in April 2016.
Naushad Chandia, 60, (pictured) is accused of helping drain an RBS bank account containing the proceeds of the fraud
‘In that scam, an employee of a company known as Candy Ventures was tricked into making the payment of £1,250,000 into the bank account of Robert Harriss’s’ company AAA Drivewise Contracts.
‘I make it quite clear, it is not the case that this defendant was directly involved in how that company was defrauded.
‘The allegation against him is quickly passing on the proceeds of that fraud to move it away from its criminal origin.’
Jurors heard that Harriss used an internal Candy Group email account to convince an employee to transfer the money into a bank account controlled by his luxury car company.
But suspicions arose in the company when a second email was received requesting a further £2 million be transferred into the account.
An investigation revealed Harriss was sending emails made to look like they were coming from high ranking executives Edward Parsons and Eduard Simovici.
‘The reality is that neither Mr Parsons nor Mr Simovici was sending or receiving these emails,’ the prosecutor said.
‘Their accounts had been hacked and were being controlled by fraudsters who were sending the emails.
Chandia, of Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, denies conspiracy to commit money laundering at Southwark Crown Court (pictured, stock image)
‘A subsequent investigation by the Candy Group of companies established the CEO of Candy Ventures had been sent an earlier email with a malicious link,’ said Mr Hughes.
‘What happened is the fraudsters took over the email accounts of legitimate employees of the company.’
The company immediately contacted the bank, but by then the account had been distributed through 47 payments and withdrawals.
Some of the payments were to legitimate businesses the car sales company was in debt to, but a portion went to accounts with no legitimate links, including one based in the United Arab Emirates.
Chandia, of Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, denies conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The trial continues.