TWO men involved in a plot to defraud a high street bank have been ordered to pay back a combined sum of more than £2 million.

Anzar Hussain, 46, and Imran Shah, 42, were part of a criminal gang sentenced in March 2016, when Bradford Crown Court heard that the conspiracy they were involved with could have netted up to £500,000.

The sophisticated scam involved the authorisation of bogus business loans and the use of stolen identities of innocent people, with business bank managers using the documents of vulnerable victims and willing conspirators to process 14 fraudulent loans of £25,000 each.

The conspiracy began in 2010 at the Bradford branch of Natwest.

Hussain, formerly of Rayner Avenue, Girlington, Bradford, only got a job with the bank in the late 1990s after he failed to reveal details of his previous convictions during the application process, but following his subsequent promotion to the post of business manager the court heard he became "the leading light" behind the scam.

He was sentenced to six years and three months in prison for conspiracy to defraud, deception, and money laundering

Shah, formerly of Broadwell Drive, Shipley, was involved in the scam by providing documentation, correspondence addresses, and companies to launder the cash.

He was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to defraud.

Following sentencing, a Proceeds of Crime investigation was instigated which identified that Shah had available assets valued at £2,033,059.93, including a £1.5 million pound property in Turkey, a plot of land in Turkey, and money in bank accounts in Turkey and Dubai.

Hussain was found to have available assets worth £34,396.86.

Both men appeared at Bradford Crown Court this week where they were ordered to pay back the money within three months.

If they fail to do so within that time, Shah faces a further ten years imprisonment and Hussain a further nine years.

Natwest will receive £289,054.42 in compensation, the amount that they are calculated to have lost as a result of the fraudulent activity carried out by the men.

Ramona Senior, head of West Yorkshire Police’s economic crime unit, said: "These were two of the main players in this sophisticated scam, and by utilising our powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act, we have ensured that not only have they had their liberty taken away from them, but when they are released from prison they will not be returning to a lifestyle funded by criminality.

"Rightly, the money that Natwest lost as a result of this scam will be returned to them from the assets seized from these individuals."