Erim Mushtaq’s client acquitted of all matters following a three-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court
RF was charged with conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to launder the proceeds of crime as part of Operation Flatware, involving several defendants. RF was alleged to be the second in command in a long running, complex and sophisticated fraud, where companies for sale were targeted and obtained with the intention to commit fraud. It was the prosecution case that after these companies were purchased, profits were falsely inflated to create positive credit ratings and bank balances with the intention to use these to defraud car leasing companies. Cars as well as industrial vehicles and machinery were fraudulently leased over a number of years and exported to all over world. The money laundering allegation involved monies being sent to several overseas bank accounts in the United Arab Emirates.
The evidence against the defendant included surveillance, incriminating phone evidence, and financial links to the exporting of cars. The defence case involved a careful and forensic cross examination of the officer in the case, undermining much of the prosecution case against RF.
Erim Mushtaq was instructed by Michael Brunskill and Kayley Giddings from Brunskill Solicitors, specialists in serious crime.