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Mortgage fraud - surveyor convicted

neverdespairgirl
neverdespairgirl Posts: 16,501 Forumite
in Debate House Prices & the Economy
"A senior surveyor who took gifts worth £1m for her part in a £10m mortgage scam for London properties has been convicted of fraud at the Old Bailey. Mary-Jane Rathie, 43, of Waltham Cross, Herts, got money and cars to "inflate" valuations to help secure the loans.
She was convicted of five counts of fraud between May 2007 and June 2009 and of concealing criminal property."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13968587


With a £1 million bribe, the fraud itself must have been massive.
...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
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Comments

  • Really2
    Really2 Posts: 12,397 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 30 June 2011 at 10:37AM
    neverdespairgirl wrote: »
    "A senior surveyor who took gifts worth £1m for her part in a £10m mortgage scam for London properties has been convicted of fraud at the Old Bailey. Mary-Jane Rathie, 43, of Waltham Cross, Herts, got money and cars to "inflate" valuations to help secure the loans.
    She was convicted of five counts of fraud between May 2007 and June 2009 and of concealing criminal property."


    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13968587


    With a £1 million bribe, the fraud itself must have been massive.

    £10M according to your post.

    Ooh and her husband is a police man, I bet he knew nothing!!!
    Her husband, Met Police officer David Rathie, of Cheshunt, was cleared of a charge of concealing criminal property.

    Two luxury cars worth a total of £200,000 - a Bentley Continental and Range Rover Sport - were said to be registered in the name of the officer, who worked with the central London traffic unit, the jury heard.
  • neverdespairgirl
    neverdespairgirl Posts: 16,501 Forumite
    Must be weird for a policeman to have people essentially saying, "yeah, right...." to him for a change.
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
  • Generali
    Generali Posts: 36,411 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    neverdespairgirl wrote: »
    Must be weird for a policeman to have people essentially saying, "yeah, right...." to him for a change.

    Does he have an legal liability? It must have been clear to him that they were living beyond their legitimate means.

    I am open to prosecution if I suspect money laundering is occurring and don't report it. From memory, 14 years in Clink and an unlimited fine is the maximum penalty in the UK.
  • neverdespairgirl
    neverdespairgirl Posts: 16,501 Forumite
    I don't know nearly enouhg about the details, sorry.
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
  • Bullion_Baron
    Bullion_Baron Posts: 35 Forumite
    10 Posts
    Good to see these sort of people getting their just desserts!
  • stonethrower
    stonethrower Posts: 340 Forumite
    £1m out of £10m appears to be a massive percentage, there was probably a lot more but it couldn't proved.
  • michaels
    michaels Posts: 28,724 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Unless she was effectively one of the conspirators rather than just a paid hand - after all it must be hard to find a surveyor willing to take part in massive fraud without risking the plan being discovered unless they are 'in on it' from the start?

    Would the Policeman necessarily have know what her real earnings were - if she had told him it was part of a big property deal and that tax / insurance wise it made sense to register the cars in his name how we he know it was a fraudulent deal?
    stonethrower wrote: »
    £1m out of £10m appears to be a massive percentage, there was probably a lot more but it couldn't proved.
    I think....
  • Really2
    Really2 Posts: 12,397 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 1 July 2011 at 9:14AM
    michaels wrote: »
    Would the Policeman necessarily have know what her real earnings were - if she had told him it was part of a big property deal and that tax / insurance wise it made sense to register the cars in his name how we he know it was a fraudulent deal?

    Presuming they were together and she had not just started the job, yes.

    Knowing your wife earns around 50K Would you not get think your wife was up to no good if £200,000+ just arrived in your bank account not from her employer.
    then spending it but putting the assets in your name?

    I am sorry but as seems to be the same with many police trials, if this was a member of the public I would have been fairly certain they would have at least been charged with laundering.

    The assumption you suddenly go up from a wage of £x to a wage of £x + £1m bonuses over two years with the same employer would need to have been looked at.

    Also who gets
    received £900,000 in cheques and money transfers plus a Bentley Continental and a Range Rover Sport together worth nearly £200,000
    as a bonus????
  • michaels
    michaels Posts: 28,724 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I would agree on 'balance of probabilities' but am not sure there is enough for criminal certainty. For example suppose it was presented as a 'property deal' rather than a work related bonus? And in terms of the cars, how many spouses 'work' for their partners companies in order to take advantage of the tax code?
    I think....
  • Really2
    Really2 Posts: 12,397 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 1 July 2011 at 9:29AM
    michaels wrote: »
    I would agree on 'balance of probabilities' but am not sure there is enough for criminal certainty. For example suppose it was presented as a 'property deal' rather than a work related bonus? And in terms of the cars, how many spouses 'work' for their partners companies in order to take advantage of the tax code?

    She is employed herself by the look of it, not self employed.
    who worked with Ashdown Lyons,

    But if you are taking gifts as a policeman would you not need to know where the gift was coming from. Presumably he had to go to a garage with the person paying? (ironically you have to go over everything in a garage and the new owner hast be present as they have to be FSA compliant to avoid laundering :))

    unfortunately it is another one of those cases that you would question if the partners job not been a law upholding one would it have been judged differently.

    Much like when they get caught doing 138mph on a motorway and the excuse was they were getting use to the cars handling (on a straight road)

    Although I have no problem with the law in this country it can be a bit two tier at times.
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