Car fraudster set to be jailed
Post Magazine / 28th January 2006
The ring-leader of a gang charged with conspiracy to defraud is expected to be jailed next Friday, at a sentencing at Harrow Crown Court.

The court found that the fraudsters obtained at least £1.5m from several insurers over a five-year period by staging car accidents. Group leader, Saad Maki Abdul Jalil and his brother, Raad, were also charged with money laundering.
The investigation, codenamed Operation Aladdin, was initiated in 1999, after John McCann, then of loss adjuster Miller Pycraft came across two fraudulent claims against Fortis. Fortis became the investigation's leading insurer, supported by Axa, Direct Line, Admiral, Norwich Union and Zenith at Lloyd's.

John Beadle, head of the ABI anti-fraud committee said: "This demonstrates what can be done when investigators, insurers and the police work together. The industry is getting its act together and lending its support to the Insurance Fraud Bureau."

Andrew Evans, fraud controller at Admiral, said: "Staged, and even faked, accidents are on the increase, and in some instances innocents are involved. In some cases fraudsters are creating fake car hire companies to invoice insurers for thousands of pounds."

The IFB becomes fully operational this summer and is funded by member insurers.