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FRAUDSTER TOLD 'PAY UP OR HAVE YOUR JAIL SENTENCE DOUBLED'
18 November 2009 - Updated: 18 November 2009
A MAN convicted of masterminding a stolen car export racket has had his jail sentence more than doubled…on the day he was due to be released
Mponjoli Malakasuka was due to be freed from a three and a half year sentence for his part in a £1.5 million scam to export prestige motors abroad.
But police trying to claw back the money he made from his offences took the case back to court for an enforcement hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
As a result the 36-year-old from Yew Tree in Walsall was handed an additional four years in jail unless he pays up within 28 days.
A judge at a previous hearing made the order on the basis that Malakasuka had hidden assets in Tanzania and that he should pay out £828,000.
Yesterday's enforcement hearing (Nov 17) ruled that he had not complied with the order and imposed the further four years in prison as a default.
Malakasuka was originally sentenced for conspiracy to steal after he hired cars for companies before reporting them stolen and shipping them to Tanzania.
Even if the fraudster serves the four years the debt will remain.
Malakasuka, whose gang operated across the West Midlands, Staffordshire, the north and London, could now face deportation on his release from the conspiracy to steal sentence.
Det Insp Andy Bannister, of West Midlands Police's Financial Investigation team, said: "Throughout the process Malakasuka has sought to thwart the confiscation investigation by not complying.
"This is a clear message that the police and the criminal justice system will not allow individuals to retain the benefit of their crime without suffering severe consequences.
"The public rightly expects criminals not to benefit from their crimes and this is another powerful example of how we are making sure they can't."
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