Taheer Sardar was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for perverting the course of justice at Southwark Crown Court today. Mr Sardar pleaded guilty on 7 May 2024.
Mr Sardar was interviewed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as part of an investigation it was conducting into a sophisticated boiler room scam that had defrauded 120 investors of £1.3 million.
Three individuals, Mr Mirza, Mr Solaja and Mr Vickers were subsequently convicted and sentenced to 23 years for that fraud following prosecution by the FCA.
In his interview, Mr Sardar, acting with Mr Mirza, provided a forged document, which he claimed had been signed by ‘Mohammed Khan’. Mr Sardar sought to use the document to bolster a defence raised by Raheel Mirza and Opeyemi Solaja, who had claimed – without evidence – that someone named ‘Mohammed Khan’ was the architect of the fraud they had been involved in.
The FCA did not find that Mr Sardar was involved in the fraud itself, but he provided the document in order to mislead the FCA.
At Mr Sardar’s sentencing on 10 May 2024, the Judge, Mr Recorder Gavaghan, remarked that:
‘This was a sophisticated attempt using a forged document to undermine the course of justice…[it was] a very serious offence that strikes at the very core of the legal system.’