Huge property empire collapses after National Crime Agency probe

A businessman with links to serious criminals has lost his vast investment property empire worth nearly £10m after a National Crime Agency investigation.

The agency secured an Unexplained Wealth Order against eight properties owned by Mansoor ‘Manni’ Mahmood Hussain, formerly of Leeds.

This was despite Hussain submitting 127 lever arch folders and a 76-page statement to try to explain where his money came from.

Specifically a freezing order was obtained stopping the sale or transfer of eight properties, plus a further nine that were identified.

The NCA argued that Hussain had failed to fully comply with the requirements of the UWO, and his non-compliance provided a case that a number of the properties were funded by criminal associates.

Hussain - who has links to a murderer jailed for 26 years, an armed robber and a convicted fraudster who acted as his accountant - used threats of violence and blackmail to buy his properties, the NCA claimed.

Hussain has also agreed to hand over 45 properties in London, Cheshire and Leeds, four parcels of land, as well as other assets and £583,950 in cash, with a combined value of £9,802,828.

The settlement was agreed in August.

The NCA says that at different times 

Hussain also allowed convicted armed robber Dennis Slade to stay rent free in his seven bedroom house, and in a penthouse apartment - both in Leeds.

For the last 15 years, convicted fraudster Stephen Farman has managed Hussain’s accounts.

UWOs were introduced under the Criminal Finances Act 2017 and came into force in 2018.

The NCA secured the first UWO one month later, against £30m worth of assets held by Zamira Hajiyeva and her husband.

Associated orders introduced by the same legislation, such as Account Freezing Orders, have been obtained in in a number of civil recovery cases. 

The NCA has secured 85 AFOs with a combined value of more than £180m.