TWO brothers from Bradford have agreed to pay the National Crime Agency £4.3 million following a civil recovery investigation into their multi-million pound property portfolio.

Parvez Akhtar, 55, known as 'Boney', and his brother Zaheer Akhtar Nazir, 50, have been property developers for more than 30 years.

The Agency alleges it was funded by the proceeds of unlawful conduct including money laundering and fraud.

In its case at the High Court, the NCA alleged the brothers used their property portfolio to launder monies on behalf of prolific criminals.

The Agency further alleged Akhtar has been involved in a range of criminality since the 1990s including international VAT fraud, money laundering and fraud.

These allegations are something the brothers 'explicitly deny'. 

The NCA claim that the evidence uncovered by the investigation showed that Akhtar had links to a number of serious organised criminals both in the UK and overseas.

Akhtar has previously appeared in YouTube videos showing off his high value cars and sporting memorabilia.

The settlement will include a three-storey town house in Paddington, West London worth about £1.75 million and two properties in Yorkshire worth about £300,000.

Following the settlement, Mohsin Afsar, lawyer at Solomons Solicitors, who represented both men, said: “Our clients have not been involved in any form of fraud, VAT fraud or money laundering/criminal activities and the settlement reached with the NCA is based on commerciality and saving years of time on civil court litigation.

“There is an explicit denial by our clients of any wrongdoing on the allegations raised by the NCA.

“In fact, over the course of the past 20 years or so our client’s companies have paid several millions of pounds in tax and vat and have conducted their affairs with honesty and integrity and will continue to do so.

“Finally, for the avoidance of doubt this is not a criminal matter and the allegations had not been the subject of a full hearing and challenge before the High Court.”