Jailed Money Launderer to Hand Back £1m Criminal Profits

19 April 2011

A jailed businessman who laundered drugs money for a convicted heroin trafficker has been ordered to hand almost £1million of criminal profits.

SOCA was granted the Confiscation Order in Leeds Crown Court for £933,422 against Paul Anthony Romano Morgan from Leeds. Her Honour Judge Sally Cahill QC ruled that if Morgan does not pay within six months he faces a further four years in prison and will still be liable for the money owed.

The assets will include;

Contents of a number of bank accounts
Land in Thorne, South Yorkshire
Proceeds from the sale of Halton Moor pub in east Leeds
The former Fisherman’s Hut pub in Leeds
Houses in Scarcroft and Halton East Leeds

Paul Morgan, 44, laundered dirty money for convicted drug dealer Khalid Mahood Malik who was jailed for 25 years in 2005 for importing and distributing more than 300kg of heroin. Malik used family members and corrupt business people to launder his profits. Morgan was part of the 27 strong Bradford based criminal gang who were jailed for a total of 200 years.  

So far SOCA has been granted Confiscation Orders in relation to this gang totalling £11.4million.

The court heard that Morgan owned or had owned a number of properties in the Yorkshire area including public houses, development land and a residential property. The Judge deemed them to be the proceeds of crime.

A Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) was granted to monitor Morgan’s finances for five years. This will come into effect on his release from prison. He was also disqualified from becoming a company director for 12 years.

Read the previous article about Khalid Malik's confiscation order here