Promise made to Birmingham Covid fraudster who moaned everyone else could afford to live in Dubai

A member of a gang behind a £2.4m Covid-19 funding fraud was made a promise after he moaned he was the only one who could not afford to live in Dubai. Sajid Hussain was one of 12 men behind a 'sophisticated' racket to illegally claim emergency support funding after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

The 36-year-old, from Erdington, was described as a 'very active member' who played a 'significant and leading role' under the instructions of gang orchestrators Qirat Deeas, 51, and Ummer Yousaf, 40. As sentencing proceedings began at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday, November 5, it was also revealed that Hussain was a carer who had stolen from a vulnerable man he was supposed to look after.

Mark Jackson, prosecuting on behalf of Birmingham City Council trading standards, said: "Sajid Hussain clearly received direction from Qirat Deeas and Ummer Yousaf, but he still played a very significant and leading role in the fraud and money laundering.

READ MORE: £2.4m Covid fraudsters unmasked as Birmingham gang bought Audis and stole enough to live in Dubai

"He recruited others, he opened bank accounts for the sole purpose of using them for fraud and money laundering, and he then controlled and accessed them to transfer fraudulently obtained funds."

The court was told Hussain also submitted fraudulent applications for loans, grants and HMRC payments and drove one of the Audis the gang bought with their illegal profits. He ultimately confessed to his involvement but the prosecution alleged he only went to trial to defend Yousaf, who was ultimately convicted by a jury.

Mr Jackson said: "It seems that whilst the conspiracy was in operation, Sajid Hussain was given money by the crime group. It is not accepted those payments placed him in the role of being a crime group employee.

"He was a very active and leading member in terms of the crime group's activities and despite his assertion in a message to Ummer Yousaf that everyone else had made enough to live in Dubai except him, he was given an assurance by Ummer Yousaf that he would be looked after.

"His willingness, despite the overwhelming evidence against him, to sit through a trial so that he could do his best to assist Ummer Yousaf's defence case and then to plead guilty before being cross-examined - so he could not harm Ummer Yousaf's case - suggests he is relying on the assurance that he was given - that Qirat Deeas and Ummer Yousaf will 'look after him'."

The court heard Hussain had also carried out a separate fraud between November 2020 and April the following year for which he had already been handed a 26-week suspended sentence. He secured a job as a carer by making false representations on his application about his previous employment.

One of his referees had been a so-called 'director' of a company used by the covid fraud gang to illegally claim and launder support funding. During the investigation into Hussain's involvement it was revealed he had bought online gift vouchers using a debit card belonging to a man he was supposed to be caring for.

He also had images of the victim's bank statements on his phone. Hussain ultimately admitted a charge of fraud by abuse of position in relation to that. Concerning the Covid scam he admitted two counts of conspiracy to defraud and one count of money laundering.

The gang made 50 successful applications for small business grants netting £500,000 in total. They also obtained £1.3m-worth of bounce back loans and secured £559,491.03-worth of self assessment and eat out to help out payments. Sentencing will continue in December.