The ringleader of a money laundering gang has been stripped of his property in order to pay back the fortune he built up illegally.

Ramanathan Thayaparan, 45, was jailed for nine years in May 2014 after it emerged that he laundered more than £107 million of cash at two Victoria-based foreign exchange outlets.

Now the resident of HMP Wandsworth has been stripped of his assets, including a £440,000 home in Eastcote Lane, Harrow, as a form of repayment.

Nicol Sheppard, assistant director at Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said:

“The message from the hearing couldn’t be clearer: abuse your position to launder money and we’ll lock you up.

“Thayaparan exploited his role to line his pockets, but we left no stone unturned in picking apart his finances and identifying his assets – even those offshore.

“Money laundering is a serious offence and people like Thayaparan and his associates sustain organised criminals by legitimising their ill-gotten gains.

“We relentlessly pursue those engaging in money laundering, ensuring they face the full force of the law, and I urge anyone with information about those involved to contact our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887.”

The £440,000 property in Eastcote Lane, Harrow

Harrow Times:

Thayaparan, who was the business’ designated money laundering reporting officer, would turn a blind eye to the fact that crime associates were changing dirty money for easily-concealable notes at the bureaux de change.

This fraud allowed him to build up a property empire worth £1.3 million, with homes in Harrow, Paris and Chennai and land in Sri Lanka.

At a hearing in September 2015, his accomplice, Thillainathan Kumarathas, of Eastcote Lane, Harrow, serving a five-year sentence, was ordered to pay almost £24,000.

At the same hearing, another accomplice, Dinesh Kumar Anandan, of Pentland Close, Edmonton, who served a two-year sentence, was ordered to pay £37,500.  

Sian Davis, from CPS Proceeds of Crime, said that this case showed that it is “determined that criminals will not benefit from their offending”.