A British fraudster who has been evading authorities is set to forfeit his extensive £90 million property portfolio and luxury vehicle, as determined by a court ruling. Arif Patel, a 57-year-old from Preston, Lancashire, was at the helm of a criminal organization found guilty in 2023 of orchestrating one of the largest carousel tax fraud schemes in the United Kingdom.

Patel, who is currently residing in Dubai, reportedly built his lavish empire based on fraudulent activities, and now faces a court-ordered requirement to repay £90,503,211 through the liquidation of his properties located in Preston, London, and abroad. The confiscation order, issued by a judge at Chester Crown Court, dictates the seizure of his real estate assets. Carousel fraud essentially involves a network of fictitious transactions that are manipulated to unlawfully reclaim Value Added Tax (VAT) from the government.

The operations led by Patel resulted in the misappropriation of millions through fraudulent VAT claims pertaining to non-existent exports of mobile phones and textiles. Furthermore, the gang imported counterfeit garments, which, if legitimate, would have had a market value of around £50 million. Among the assets Patel owns are various properties in Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, all of which will be sold off, with the proceeds returned to public funds.

In a trial lasting 14 weeks, Patel and his accomplice, Mohamed Jaffer Ali, age 61 and also in Dubai, were found guilty of fraud and money laundering while absent from the court proceedings. The magnitude of their criminal activities has drawn the attention of law enforcement, with Richard Las, director of the Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, stating that Patel led an extravagant lifestyle at the expense of law-abiding citizens, and now will see his ill-gotten gains taken away.

Mark Winstanley, Assistant Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary, emphasized the extensive impact that Patel’s operations had on legitimate businesses, estimating losses in the millions. Patel managed these illegal activities through an import/export business named Faisaltex Ltd., and he has been living abroad since failing to return from a trip to Dubai in July 2011. He, along with Ali, was sentenced in absentia to a significant total of 31 years in prison, and with the establishment of an extradition treaty with Dubai, there is a possibility of future legal consequences for both individuals.