by Jenny Loweth T&A Reporter Two brothers have been given prison sentences totalling more than eight years for their roles in “insider” frauds targeting bank customers and West Yorkshire Police.

They were the key movers in a plot to plunder £500,000 from the Bradford & Bingley Bank in a mortgage application scheme which actually netted £173,000.

Bank employee Asif Budhia, 28 – the inside man on a £500,000 conspiracy – was locked up for four years and five months.

Soyeb Budhia, 26, recruited by his brother into the plot, was imprisoned for three years and eight months.

The brothers, of Wingfield Mount, Barkerend, Bradford, were sentenced at Bradford Crown Court yesterday with four more defendants.

They admitted conspiring to defraud the Bradford & Bingley in 2007.

Asif Budhia, Altaf Kasam, 22, of Springcliffe, Heaton, Bradford, Balal Iqbal, 24, of Leamington Street, Heaton, Anees Akram, 23, of Duckworth Terrace, Girlington, Bradford, and Janine Tait, 21, of Watmough Street, Great Horton, Bradford, were sentenced for a second conspiracy to defraud the Abbey National bank in 2008.

Soyeb Budhia admitted a fraud conspiracy against Equifax when he worked for the credit reference agency as a customer services agent.

He made 455 bogus credit checks for West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit in 2007, ramping up the force’s bill to more than £5,000.

Kasam was jailed for 12 months and Iqbal, Akram and Tait were each sentenced to nine months imprisonment suspended for 12 months with 200 hours unpaid work and a curfew order.

Prosecutor Kirstie Watson said Asif Budhia was “at the heart of the Bradford & Bingley conspiracy” against Mortgage Express, specialising in the buy-to-let market.

Loans to the value of £478,500 were fraudulently applied for and the actual loss to the bank was almost £173,000.

Kasam was central to the Abbey National fraud, employed by the bank’s anti-money laundering team. The plotters targeted £86,000 of customer’s money and netted almost £12,000.

Lawyers for the Budhia brothers said they pleaded guilty and were of good character.

Asif Budhia had around £10,000 of debt at the time.

He was not a professional criminal and did not make huge amounts of cash.

He recruited his brother who acted at his behest and was now “back on the straight and narrow.”

Kasam was used by more sophisticated criminals. He was not the prime mover and was deeply ashamed.

Judge John Potter said Asif Budhia was “the inside man” in the Bradford & Bingley fraud.

He told him: “You were at or near the top of this conspiracy.”

Soyeb Budhia was an “accomplice to your brother’s rampant dishonesty”.

Judge Potter said Kasam was “inspired by greed”.

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