A wealthy businessman who stole social security money for "greed and greed alone" is today facing a jail sentence.

Shabir Ahmed, who this week confessed to being a benefit cheat, is also likely to have some of his assets seized.

Ahmed, who lived at South Edge, Shann Park, Keighley, had pleaded not guilty at Bradford Crown Court to more than 180 allegations relating to the obtaining by deception of benefits totalling more than £40,000, but on the second day of his trial he unexpectedly decided to admit 54 of the charges.

Speaking after Ahmed's case was adjourned until the New Year, fraud investigator Robert Fell said the exact amount of illegal benefits obtained by the 36-year-old would have to be worked out before the next hearing.

"It's been a determined and long-running fraud which he has admitted today," said Mr Fell.

A joint investigation involving various agencies, including the Department of Work and Pensions, the Inland Revenue and Bradford Council, was launched into Ahmed's activities following an anonymous tip-off.

Prosecutor Paul Taylor told a jury on Monday how Ahmed was eventually arrested in September last year. Officers seized cash totalling around £20,000 from his then home in South Edge and his parents' address.

While Ahmed was being kept under observation, he was also seen driving around in a Suzuki vehicle and documents recovered by investigators showed he had an American Express credit card and had also bought a personalised number plate for £250.

Ahmed, now of Gain Lane, Bradford, was formally found guilty on Wednesday by the jury, on 54 allegations of obtaining property by deception, after he entered his guilty pleas.

It is also expected that Ahmed will ask for a further 40 similar matters to be taken into consideration when he appears at court again on January 17.

Ahmed's guilty pleas cover a period between January, 1996, and August last year, when he illegally obtained housing benefit, invalid care allowance and income support.

The Honorary Recorder of Bradford Judge Stephen Gullick agreed to adjourn sentence until the New Year after being told by Mr Taylor that there would need to be a confiscation hearing in relation to Abmed's assets.

He is also facing a bill of £l6,500 in relation to the prosecution costs of the case.

Judge Gullick granted Ahmed conditional bail in the meantime, but he ordered him to surrender his passport by noon on Monday and said he should not apply for any other travel documents.

"I anticipate you may well receive a prison sentence for that which you have admitted. I will make my mind up in January next year,'' he warned Ahmed.

Mr Taylor told the jury how Ahmed claimed benefits when he was involved in various business ventures in Keighley, including a pizza takeaway in Lawkholme Crescent, a private hire taxi firm and a property redevelopment company.

"This is not like the sort of case where someone is claiming benefits where they have a part-time, poorly-paid job which they don't tell the DSS about," said Mr Taylor.

"No. This case concerns an entrepreneur ... a wealthy man, Shabir Ahmed, who ran several businesses.

"He owned several pieces of land and he had lots and lots of cash, and he stole money from the department of social security for greed and greed alone."

Mr Taylor alleged that Ahmed had been living effectively as man and wife with the mother of his three children at an address in South Edge, Keighley, but his claim for income support indicated he was not working and living alone.

Although he had got a joint mortgage on the property, he was paid housing benefit after he indicated on an application form that his partner was in fact his landlady and she lived at a different address.

Ahmed also claimed invalid care allowance on the basis that he was unemployed and looked after his father for at least 35 hours a week. "The prosecution say he didn't provide anything like that level of care and was earning more than £50-a-week," said Mr Taylor.

He queried how much time Ahmed had to look after his father, taking into account his other enterprises.

"This defendant was simply grasping as much of the taxpayers' money as he could lay his hands on," claimed Mr Taylor.

"The prosecution allege that this defendant ran a number of businesses and had substantial assets -- land, money, bank accounts, shares, while at the same time making out he was on his uppers and in need of assistance.

"He used his family and his partner to hide the real facts ... a deliberate ploy to hide the real facts from anyone who chose to investigate his affairs when it came to benefit entitlement." Mr Taylor said invoices for the redevelopment firm Pegasus showed a total figure of more than £180,000, and a letter found at the South Edge address revealed that the firm was offering to buy a piece of land in West Lane, Keighley, for £12,000, in August last year.