Enforcement: UK's FSA closes broker and bans management
A mortgage broker from Birmingham, Mohammed Hanif, has been banned from the industry after the FSA discovered a trail of lies about the management of his business and how it was run.
When Hanif started business as Pak Property Centre, he also wanted to act as a mortgage broker. So he completed the forms for FSA authorisation and sent them off. The authorisation was granted and he began in business with most of the mortgage broking done by Anmbur Saddiq.
So far so good - or so it seemed. But in fact, Hanif had completed the application in the name of his daughter in law, Zaneb Sarfraz - and she just signed it when asked to do so, apparently unaware of its import.
But, says the FSA, "she had no knowledge of the financial services industry, she was not aware of the purpose of the authorisation application submitted in her name, and she had very little involvement in the running of the business. From the outset Hanif was the controlling mind of Pak Property Centre.
"Having obtained authorisation on a false basis Hanif, together with the only mortgage adviser at Pak Property Centre, Anmbur Saddiq, submitted a mortgage application for Mrs Sarfraz based on false information about her earnings from the business. Saddiq also made false mortgage applications for himself and for a family member. He has also been banned by the FSA."
The FSA cancelled Pak Property Centre's permission as from 16th November 2009 but it has been suspended since 4th August 2009.
The Order, technically made against Mrs Sarfraz, does not sanction her personally. Margaret Cole, the FSA's director of enforcement and financial crime, said " Hanif... deceived the FSA by presenting sham governance arrangements during the authorisation process. In doing this seemingly he had no regard for the impact on the reputation of Mrs Sarfraz."
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