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A qualified West Midlands mortgage broker and an associate who functioned as the operational linchpin of a major property fraud ring have received custodial and community sentences at Birmingham Crown Court following an extensive multi-agency investigation. Jatinder Chohan, 43, of Green Road, Hall Green, and Anthony Kafetzis, 68, of Honiley Road, Solihull, systematically falsified lending applications, intercepted property buyers' stamp duty payments, and evaded statutory taxes over a decade-long scheme. The illicit enterprise was dismantled through coordinated operations led by the West Midlands Police Regional Organised Crime Unit alongside HM Revenue and Customs, terminating in formal sentencing by His Honour Judge Jacobs.
The fraudulent scheme targeted both regulated commercial lenders and unsuspecting home buyers seeking legitimate property financing across the Midlands. Chohan leveraged his accredited status as an active mortgage intermediary to doctor critical verification documents, intentionally falsifying client earnings figures, employment confirmations, and borrowing thresholds before distribution to mortgage underwriting teams. In one documented instance examined during trial proceedings, a home purchaser submitted an authentic application requiring £106,000 in mortgage finance, only for the co-conspirators to manipulate internal files to secure an inflated loan balance, directly funnelling an illicit £30,146 surplus straight into Kafetzis's personal accounts.
Systematic Manipulation of Stamp Duty Portals
Beyond manipulating commercial lenders, the criminal partnership established a deliberate tax diversion mechanism designed to misappropriate residential property purchase duties. Kafetzis and Chohan collected substantial stamp duty sums directly from prospective buyers under the legitimate pretence that the funds would be forwarded immediately to public revenue accounts. Instead of fulfilling the required statutory transfers, the pair utilised an online submission portal registered directly to an enterprise controlled by Chohan to file fraudulent exemption declarations, informing the authorities that the acquired dwellings qualified for statutory zero-rate relief.
This systematic exploitation of online self-declaration portals allowed the pair to intercept and retain more than £147,000 in diverted tax revenue that was legally owed to the public purse. The funds were subsequently transferred into accounts controlled by the defendants, while purchasers remained under the false impression that their conveyancing tax liabilities had been resolved lawfully.
Forensic Accounting Unearths Covert Fortunes
The collaborative financial investigation conducted by HM Revenue and Customs unmasked a pattern of personal tax fraud running parallel to the mortgage operations. Forensic analysis of bank accounts revealed that Kafetzis accumulated more than £1.5 million in unexplained cash and electronic deposits over a ten-year duration, generating verified enterprise profits ranging between £250,000 and £340,000 each operating year. Despite generating substantial commercial revenues, Kafetzis submitted continuous statutory declarations to HM Revenue and Customs falsely claiming his earnings fell entirely below the national taxable allowance threshold.
The prolonged tax evasion directly deprived the public exchequer of £433,000 in unremitted income tax revenues. The understated returns simultaneously qualified Kafetzis for state-funded support schemes, leading him to unlawfully draw an additional £64,000 in taxpayer-funded working tax credits and child tax credits over several years.
Judicial Reckoning and Proceeds of Crime Confiscation
Following a complex trial at Birmingham Crown Court, the jury convicted Kafetzis of multiple counts of false accounting, fraud, and theft, alongside guilty pleas entered for fraudulent tax evasion and unlawful benefit claims. Sentenced by the court, Judge Jacobs addressed Kafetzis directly, confirming that judicial review established him as the direct instigator and structural lynchpin across all the identified offences. Kafetzis received a six-year custodial prison sentence, while his co-defendant Chohan was sentenced to a three-year suspended term, coupled with 150 hours of mandatory unpaid community work and a 20-day rehabilitation activity order.
Both men now face extensive financial stripping operations under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Daily Dazzling Dawn understands, as financial investigators pursue formal confiscation orders to recover stolen public revenues and trace hidden assets accumulated through the mortgage scheme.
