A HALE fraudster with an "appalling driving record" has been prevented from buying an expensive sports car.

Noveed Mumtaz, 35, of Park Road, had already been sentenced to six months in prison and disqualified from driving for six months in January this year, after pleading guilty to three offences of providing false nominations.

At a hearing at Oldham Magistrates' Court on September 22, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) argued that Mumtaz's driving was frequently abysmal,

having received two driving bans in two years.

He worked in a solicitors firm and attempted to dodge a series of speeding fines while driving a number of high-performance cars.

On one occasion he even claimed it was his mother driving, despite speed camera images showing the driver clearly had a beard.

In 2012, acting on information, police intercepted a payment Mumtaz and another man had made in an attempt to purchase an AC Cobra sports car.

A financial investigation was subsequently undertaken and it was established that Mumtaz was a failed businessman.

He had started up six companies, including car hire businesses that had in the main been dissolved due to lack of filing of accounts.

GMP successfully argued that on the balance of probabilities, these failed businesses had been used to commit VAT and tax fraud.

Magistrates were persuaded that the payment of £44,995 could be classified as the proceeds of criminal enterprise and the money was duly forfeited.

Det Con John Townsend, of GMP's Asset Attack Team, said: “To have had Mumtaz on the road with his appalling driving record in a prestigious and high performing sports car does not really bear thinking about.

“I am therefore delighted that a forfeiture order has been agreed for the full amount of £44,995 that was to be used to purchase an AC Cobra.

“Mumtaz's business record is almost as dire as his driving record and I firmly believe his enterprises have been set up as a 'front' to launder money.

“We have once again proven that no matter how well someone tries to hide proceeds of crime, once we get a whiff of laundering we will use all the legislation available to us to hit Mumtaz and those like him where it hurts them most, in the pocket.”