Asian LEADER 03
15 Jan - 28 Jan 2014
A fraudster duped a
European businesswoman
out of more than 650,000
izwan Butt 45, of Manchester Road, Denton,
was found guilty of two counts
of fraud by false representation and one count of money
laundering.
At
Manchester
Crown
Court today, Friday 20 December 2013, he was sentenced to
three and a half years.
The victim is a European
businesswoman and chief executive of a European investment company.
She and her business partners were seeking investors
to enable the company to become FSA registered in the
UK.
In July 2012, an associate of
the group, who had previously
met with and discussed investment opportunities with
Butt, contacted the company
executives to say that he had a
contact (Butt), who was keen
to invest in their company.
As a result, on Friday 3 August 2012, a meeting was arranged between the company
executives and Butt.
Butt impressed them with
his apparent knowledge of
investments, global economic
Rizwan Butt
affairs and sove reign wealth
fund opportunities in the Middle East.
A further meeting took
place at the Dorchester Hotel
in London on 10 August 2012,
after which Butt invited the
businesswoman for lunch the
following day at the Ritz hotel.
At this meeting he introduced a man who he said was
keen to invest and after the
meeting took the woman back
to her London apartment in a
Bentley, which he claimed was
his own but what was in fact a
hire car.
During a third meeting on
17 August 2013, Butt said that
he wanted to introduce investors from Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, who had $1.5billion.
Over the following weeks,
he maintained the pretence
that he had Middle-Eastern
investors lined up and told the
group that they wanted to see
a security deposit of $1m to
prove to them that the investment company was legitimate
and had significant funds at
their disposal.
It was said that the money
should be transferred to the
bank account of Butt’s company account - Horizon Solution UK Limited - and that
the funds would be returned
in full to their own company
bank account within two
working days.
On Friday 14th September 2012, Butt emailed the
woman, stating that £1.7
billion was in his account.
She replied saying that
$1m (£625,000.00) would be
credited to the bank account
of Horizon Solutions UK Lim-
ited by 5pm that day.
Butt subsequently failed to
return the funds and it was established by the executives at
the investment company that
Horizon Solutions UK Limited was a cleaning company in
Manchester, with net assets of
£657 and was registered to the
terraced house he shares with
his mother.
Pc Jane McHale, from
GMP’s Volume Fraud Team,
said: “There is no doubt that
Butt can talk the talk and
walk the walk.
“He lived in a modest home
and had a registered company with minimal assets,
but played the role of a man
with international business
connections worth billions of
pounds with apparent ease.
“So convincing was his portrayal, that he was able to
dupe a number of highly successful and experienced business people out of huge sums.
“His assets have been frozen and now that he has been
convicted we will use the full
force of the law to recoup as
much of the stolen money as
possible.”
To advertise in ‘Asian Leader’ call 01706 355 045
R
Groups invited to
bid for share of
food poverty fund
M
anchester City
Council is inviting voluntary and other third sector groups
to bid for a share of
a new £250,000 fund
which will combat food
poverty in the city.
Manchester City
Council has made the
additional funding
available under its Local Welfare Scheme to
help the most vulnerable residents in crisis
situations, for example
the homeless or those
fleeing violence or
domestic abuse.
Such help would be
delivered by third sector and other voluntary sector groups and
could be for immediate
food needs or other
essential personal
goods for people in
serious poverty. It is
expected that any support provided would
be in the form of food
or goods rather than
cash. Agencies will be
able to bid for funds to
To advertise in
ASIAN LEADER contact
provide additional support, or to help ensure
the sustainability of
existing schemes.
For more details of
how to bid, visit www.
manchester.gov.uk/
foodpovertyfund
Manchester City
Council has also made
an extra £100,000 of its
Local Welfare Scheme
money available to
provide support to
vulnerable residents in
fuel poverty.
Both changes to the
Local Welfare Scheme
were approved by the
Council’s Executive
last month.
Councillor Jeff
Smith, Executive
Member for Finance,
said: “It’s a sign of the
time that food poverty and fuel poverty
are serious concern
across the country,
and Manchester is no
exception. We want to
make sure that no one
in serious need goes
without.”
01706 355 045