The businessman behind the company Bakhtiar Abbasi, of Longleat Way, Feltham was banned from being a director for 12 years in August 2020 after volunteering for his own disqualification.

Official documents show that Bakhtiar Abbasi, 46 in his capacity of director of New Global Investments went into ‘Creditors Voluntary Liquidation’ on 11 March 2019. Mr Abbasi which a document states admitted to having assets of ‘nil’, does not dispute that liabilities were £14,730,277.

The convictions come more over four years after Abbasi’s company went into liquidation with liabilities of over £14m. Abbasi, with an address of Longleat Way, Feltham was banned from being a director for 12 years in August 2020 after volunteering for his own disqualification.

Amongst those who had lost money due to the dealings with Abbasi were the Dubai based Siddiqui brothers. They had invested over £4m with Abbasi.

Following a month long trial the judge, His Honour Judge Cole, sentenced Abbasi to 12 years in prison and banned him from being a director for 15 years. 

Abbasi set up his company, New Global Investments UK Ltd in 2014 and began telling people that he was ‘an experienced property trader with access to London properties at below-market prices through an auction house’. 

The Siddiqui brothers who were brought up in London and are now residents of Dubai, were at that time interested in buying property

and said they were introduced to Abbasi at a family wedding in London.

Abbasi had claimed a portfolio of £30m worth of properties with a turnover of £75m-£80m per annum.

The Siddiqui brothers provided a deposit of £1,080,000 to buy a property Abbasi assured them he could quickly resell to a third party at a significant profit, backing his assurance with a supposed letter of undertaking from a solicitor acting for the third party promising to provide to provide a non-refundable deposit of £825,000. 

The court was told this letter was later found to be a forgery and the representations in relation to his business dealings were also false; he did not have a ‘portfolio of properties’ let alone one worth £30m.

Despite assurances that money would be returned some elderly and retired individuals who had dealings with Mr Abbasi have not been paid.

A pensioner said his life had changed dramatically after his introduction to Abbasi.

He had told us: “I had my life savings for which I had worked hard for. It was my life’s work and it was all for my retirement. Now, I am heavily in debt. I borrowed from family and friends just to survive.”

He said he was introduced to Bakhtiar Abbasi by friends.

One family who did not wish to be named said they had invested amounts between 2014-2019.

They said they were told that the money was going to be invested ‘on our behalf doing property deals’.