A businessman behind a £280,000 luxury car scam was nailed after posting photos of his lavish lifestyle on Facebook. Sohan Malik used “unsuspecting” agents to get cars on hire purchase deals. Malik, 42, then cancelled direct debit payments — leaving them to carry the can — and made off with the motors.
The married dad of five told police probing the disappearance of six cars he had lost £70,000 in a business deal in 2012.
But cops found snaps of him in designer clothes at top hotels and restaurants with his family and at the wheel of a £200,000 Lamborghini and a £150,000 Bentley Continental.
Malik was jailed for three years and four months on Thursday in front of his weeping daughters at Manchester Crown Court, as Judge Timothy Edwards said his children would ‘suffer’ as a ‘direct consequence of his dishonesty.’
Malik used the names of three unwitting ‘agents’ to acquire a series of cars, including an Audi RS4 worth £58,000 and a Nissan GTR Coupe, worth £68,000.
He also set up payment details via two companies he was involved with. He then cancelled direct debits and made off with the vehicles – leaving the ‘agents’ who set up the payments to carry the can.
Police investigated the disappearance of six cars worth up to a total of £280,000 – but only one vehicle – a Nissan Qashqai – was recovered after being stopped whilst being driven by an unnamed man on the M60 near Manchester.
It is thought the others were sold off to finance Malik’s lifestyle. The businessman was arrested after police unravelled his shady dealings at Soha Ltd, plus another firm ISTN.
He claimed he had lost £70,000 from a 2012 business deal but officers found the images leading his ‘Life of Riley’ on Facebook. Three of the missing cars were found to have been insured under his name.
Three other people who were charged with conspiracy to steal over the scam between August 2013 and January 2014 were cleared of wrongdoing.
