The retail fraudster behind one of the UK’s biggest ever carousel tax frauds has been ordered to pay back over £90m with the sale of property across London, Preston and overseas.

Sock manufacturer Arif Patel and his criminal gang attempted to steal £97m through VAT repayment claims on false exports of textiles and mobile phones.

They also imported and sold counterfeit clothes that would have been worth at least £50m, if they had been genuine.

The money obtained from the crimes funded a property empire, including commercial and residential premises in Preston and London, purchased through offshore bank accounts and companies.

“Carousel fraud is a complex scam where criminals create chains of fake business transactions to steal VAT repayments,” said a statement from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

“Goods are moved between different companies in a circular pattern, creating false export and import records that criminals use to try and claim large sums back from tax authorities.”

Patel also owned property in Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

A Chester Crown Court judge has ruled that more than £90m of Patel’s restrained property assets should be sold, with the money returned to fund UK public services.

Patel’s Ferrari 575 Superamerica (above) has also been restrained and will be sold at auction.

Patel and his co-accused Mohamed Jaffar Ali were found guilty in their absence of fraud and money laundering offences after a 14-week trial in 2023.

The convictions came after a joint investigation between HMRC and Lancashire Police, which also secured jail sentences totalling over 116 years for 24 other gang members.

The government department’s director fraud investigation service Richard Las said: “Arif Patel lived a lavish lifestyle at the expense of the law-abiding majority, but he will now lose the property empire he amassed from the proceeds of crime.

“Our work never stops at conviction. For the last two years we’ve worked with police and CPS partners to secure one of the biggest criminal confiscations we’ve ever recovered.

“Tens of millions of pounds of stolen money will now go back to directly fund public services.”

Patel’s Preston-based company, Faisaltex Ltd, was at the centre of his criminal empire, where he ran the counterfeit clothing import operation and false export business.

As well as playing a major part in the overall criminal conspiracy, Ali also laundered the proceeds through offshore bank accounts.

Patel travelled to Dubai in July 2011 and failed to return. He was tried in his absence at Chester Crown Court where he was found guilty of all charges in April 2023.

Ali was found guilty of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue and money laundering. He has also received a £677,000 confiscation order since his conviction.

They were sentenced in absence to 31 years in prison.

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