NRI
lawyer, jailed 14.5 years for helping criminals and drug gang
Wembley, London, December 05, 2007
Satish Malhotra
NRI Naveen Sagar, 32, from Wembley, a corrupt solicitor who helped
members of a drugs gang escape justice, has been jailed for fourteen
and a half years. He made millions of pounds through selling heroin
and used firearms. He laundered drug money, orchestrated false
defences and supplied bogus witnesses to help major criminals
to evade justice. He was involved directly in fraud and burglary
and was suspected of trying to derail an Old Bailey murder case
after police found a picture of the trial jury on his mobile phone.
He wears designer suits, driving a Porsche 911 and buying a
portfolio of properties – until Ahmed Osman Hersi, a Somali-born
drug dealer, gave evidence against his former solicitor and other
criminal associates in an attempt to earn a lighter sentence for
himself. After his arrest in February last year, a search of the
home he shared with his parents revealed £75,000 under a
bed.
Ahmed
Osman Hersi:
Ahmed Hersi, 29, arrived in the UK as a as a refugee in 1983
from Somali and took asylum in 1985. He had served a jail sentence
for car jacking
Police said his network primarily operated from the Southall area,
but during their investigations they seized drugs and guns in
Hackney, Leicester Square, and Shepherds Bush. After a three-year
investigation by the serious and organized crime division at Scotland
Yard. Detectives admit that they are unlikely to trace millions
of pounds that have been transferred to offshore accounts. His
gang controlled a large part of the drug trade in London, it was
a multi-million-pound business.
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In October 2004, Hersi was arrested after becoming involved in
a road-rage incident with a bus driver. In the boot of his Mercedes,
officers found £32,000 in cash. He called Sagar,
who arrived at a police station with a prepared defence and a
witness who claimed that the cash belonged to him. Although inquiries
showed the notes to be coated with heroin, police were forced
to return the money to Hersi.
Sagar, received £5,000 for his part in the deception.
His witness, Muhammad Azam, was paid £7,000.
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In January 2005, Hersi and three other men buying and selling
firearms in Hackney, the police follow but the men escaped despite
crashing their Porsche.Three men were arrested at later dates
and were jailed after Hersi gave evidence against them.
In April 2005, the guns were recovered from the boot of a chauffeur-driven
Mercedes of Hersi.
Sagar was arrested in February, 2006:
In February, 2006, the police arrested Hersi after raid and found
£29,000 cash. Again he called Sagar, who
produced Azam with another claim that he had legal entitle-ment
to the cash.
Later Azam told that the money was impregnated with traces of
heroin, he admitted to police that he had agreed
to help Sagar to provide false defences for Hersi. Another witness
also told the same story
- Sagar was arrested in a police raid and police found £85,000
in cash under his bed.
- Police found an emergency services' radio scanner tuned into
police channels.
- Police also found series of recordings of interviews with
a witness that had been doctored to create the impression that
officers were acting in a corrupt manner.
- Police have obtained an order to confiscate assets valued
at more than £1 million.
Sagar’s firm, Mehra & Co, was shown to have been defrauding
legal aid fees by setting up a bogus interpreters agency. The
firm has closed down and his partner has received a suspended
jail term for fraud. Sagar’s practising certificate has
been withdrawn.
Judge Fergus Mitchell said: "The public
on the whole trust solicitors as do others in professional positions
such as other lawyers and police. "You undoubtedly contributed
to a reduction in that confidence."
Judge Mitchell read out comments Hersi made about Sagar in which
he said: "Everybody knew he was a crooked solicitor. They
said he will help you out and get you off a case."
Hersi, of Saxon Road, Southall, west London will be sentenced
on Thursday at the same court.
This was highly organized criminal network that involved serious
drug trafficking and firearms offences right across London
