Three people in the UK have been jailed for a total of 10 years for their involvement in a multimillion-pound counterfeiting racket.
This was confirmed by Mark Reynolds, in charge of Microsoft SA`s anti-piracy and legalisation drive. Reynolds said the trio, who were convicted on 16th March for conspiracy to defraud Microsoft. He said the gang specialised in trading counterfeit Microsoft software and is believed to have sold millions of pounds worth of counterfeit software throughout the UK.
In passing sentence, Her Honour Judge Pearlman said the gang had been involved in a "careful and sophisticated fraud ... that struck at the route of commercial trust and probity".
"This was a conspiracy aggravated by the clever devices you used to deceive and the fact you continued the operation after being arrested. You were all playing for high stakes."
The Judge said that companies that suffered losses like these were also likely to lose employees as a result.
She said a sentence had to mark the serious nature of the offence as well as being seen as a deterrent to others.
The Judge also gave a special mention to the prosecution on the way the case had been presented to her and the jury and congratulated the officers of the National Crime Squad on the way the case had been investigated.
Sentencing Sikander Qureshi, 55, from north London, to four-and-a-half years, she said that he had been clearly and consistently involved in the crime from the outset. "You were connected with setting up companies ... and using other innocent people - you had a respected place in the community and you used that place to involve others."
Shaheen Parveen, 42, from north west London, received a four-year jail term with 3 months to be served concurrently for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Zafar Ahmed, 40, from east London, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years with half the sentence suspended.
Julia Phillpot, Anti-Piracy manager for Microsoft in the UK, said: "Counterfeiting is a serious issue that significantly impacts customers, who are often duped by fraudsters into buying product they believe to be legal and genuine. We hope these sentences will help raise awareness of the massive problem counterfeiting represents to customers, industry and the economy."
More details on the bust
The gang`s mastermind, married father-of-three Sikander Qureshi, 55 of 4 Hall Farm Close, Stanmore, HA7 4JT (north London) was convicted of conspiracy to defraud Microsoft computer software together with Shaheen Parveen, 42, from 16 Kingsmere Park Road, Kingsbury, (north west London) her brother Babar Manzoor, 25, who jumped bail before fleeing to his native Pakistan, and father-of-one Zafar Ahmed, 40, who lives at 44 Dorset Road, East Ham, E7 (east London).
The fraudsters were caught following a chance discovery by a sharp-eyed Heathrow airport customs officer who intercepted a package sent from a business address in Thailand. This contained hundreds of counterfeit Microsoft CDs and was destined for Mr Qureshi`s east London accountancy practice (30-31 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6PG).
HM Customs re-packaged the goods and sent it to the chartered accountant`s office where Hackney Council trading standards officers were lying in wait. As soon as the package had been delivered, the officers swooped on the building where they found a shrink-wrapping machine, counterfeit software and cellophane.
Following further investigations conducted by the National Crime Squad, Qureshi, Parveen and Ahmed were later observed on CCTV visiting various storage premises across London where they had stashed other imported counterfeit software. The footage showed the trio handling large cardboard boxes containing the counterfeit software CDs.
Raids on the Ahmed`s and Parveen`s homes and the storage units revealed an Aladdin`s cave of counterfeiting material. Thousands of counterfeit CDs, various packaging material and Microsoft authenticity certificates - these certificates had been stolen by armed raiders from a printing factory in Scotland.
Despite having been arrested and bailed by the police towards the end of 1998, the gang had the nerve to move their lucrative scam to different trading premises. The police quickly closed this operation down discovering more incriminating evidence in the process.
Throughout the trial, Prosecuting barrister Mark Wyeth revealed much about the nature of the operation carried out by the gang. Following numerous trips to the Far East including Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Qureshi had negotiated deals with large-scale counterfeiting operations to import illegal copies of the latest Microsoft software CDs to the UK. These were shipped in bulk to the United Kingdom. Once received in the UK the CDs were repackaged together with other fake component parts such as manuals and licenses to mimic genuine Microsoft Software.
Various companies had been set up by the gang to market and sell the software. However, these could not be linked to the operation`s ringleader Qureshi, who had duped friends, relations, business colleagues and employees into becoming directors of the companies and using some of them to sign cheques.
The fraudsters also used a string of false identities to disguise their link to the operation, particularly when visiting storage facilities or purchasing packaging.
Once orders had been placed the counterfeit software would be delivered through a reputable courier firm to customers. Invoices were issued to the unwitting purchasers but the companies kept no accounts detailing the money paid to them.
Having recruited his close friend, divorcee Parveen, and later on, Ahmed, the gang were able to sell the software on to businesses and other users across the country for a massive profit. St Albans City District Council (Hertfordshire) found that it had spent thousands of pounds on a batch of bogus software that had been created by the tricksters.
When the police caught up with the crooks, bank records revealed the pirates had profited by over &1.5 million (pounds). Much of the profits were cashed in banks and much was transferred to friends and relatives in Pakistan. Police have only recovered a small sum of money including &96 000 in cash that was found in a safety deposit box.
Throughout the trial, the smartly dressed bespectacled Qureshi, who claimed in court to be a good friend of the husband of Pakistan`s deposed leader Benazir Bhutto (Asif Ali Zardari), insisted throughout the trial that he knew nothing at all about the operation. He often pointed the finger at Parveen and Ahmed, who refused to give evidence. Both claimed they were working for a firm run by a Chinese man called "Mr Wong" and didn`t know they were doing anything wrong.
Officers from the national crime squad said they were very pleased that the jury had diligently reviewed the evidence and returned guilty verdicts on all counts. A spokeswoman for the national crime squad added the professionalism of the partnership and the high degree of co-operation between Microsoft and the NCS has led to this successful result.
Photography is available upon request
The trial started on 8th January 2001, the verdict was announced on 16th March 2001
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