Hello and welcome to The Lancashire Lead.
Today we tell the story of Arif Patel - a man who as able to flee the country before he was sentenced for his crimes. He remains abroad at the time of writing.
His story spans several years and has been brought to life by File on 4 Investigates - a BBC Radio 4 production. We cover that and so much more - including attempts to bully journalists while on the run - in today’s edition.
You have my apologies for the extended introduction to today’s newsletter but there is more to tell you about before we get stuck in.
The Lead, which of course includes The Lancashire Lead, has been confirmed as a recipient of the government’s Local News Fund. This money is exclusively designed to help with the long-term sustainability local news.
We have been reporting in Lancashire since 2024 - although some of our reporters have been doing it for decades - and we’ll have more about how we plan to invest that money in the near future.
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“It’s really important that news comes from real people embedded in our communities to give readers a trusted voice, so I’m pleased The Lancashire Lead and associated titles has benefited from this investment to allow it to grow its offering.
“I look forward to seeing the impact of the Local News Fund in the extra services it will provide readers and the new jobs it will create.”
Maya Ellis, MP for Ribble Valley
With Black Friday on the horizon, you can get a whopping 50% off an annual subscription to The Lancashire Lead. But you need to be quick - this is our biggest ever deal and it ends at the end of November.
Lancashire briefing
👑 The King (who visits Preston on Monday 16 November) could be involved in the process of ensuring Preston and Lancaster do not lose their status as cities when the councils for the two areas are abolished.
The pair are set to be subsumed into a larger local authority patch in 2029 – a change that would see their city titles surrendered unless action were taken to protect them. That is because the honour is conferred via the councils themselves – which would then no longer exist.
Local government minister Jim McMahon last month moved to reassure cities in the almost two dozen parts of England going through a similar shake-up to Lancashire that their identities as such would be “preserved”.
Preston and Lancaster have been advised that the mechanism by which their city status will be protected is likely to be through the issuing of ‘letters patent’ – legal documents that are authorised by the monarch, normally upon the advice of ministers.
The government had previously stated that the establishment of ‘Charter Trustees’ – individuals empowered to “hold historic property, such as charters or insignia” for a city – would be the usual solution in such a scenario.
However, there were concerns over the complexity of the process – along with a warning from local government history. Rochester, in Kent, accidentally lost its city status in 1998 when it became part of the new Medway Council – and failed to appoint the necessary trustees to guard the title.
🎵 A musician who enjoyed huge chart success in the 1990s has created a new anthem for Burnley as preparations continue for the town’s Year of Culture 2027.
The song, ‘Ours to Make’, has been written and produced by Burnley’s own Boff Whalley of Chumbawamba, whose hit single Tubthumping became a worldwide phenomenon for the group in 1997.
Whalley has created the anthem to support preparations for Burnley 2027 Year of Culture, a major programme intended to celebrate the borough’s creativity, heritage and communities, through a programme of cultural events that will raise the town’s profile.
Council leaders and cultural organisers have said the initiative, which now has its own song, is designed to build pride in place, support local artists and organisations, attract visitors and investment, and help tackle inequality.
The campaign is also being positioned as a springboard for Burnley’s wider cultural ambitions, with residents getting the chance to hear the new anthem ‘Ours to Make’ when it is performed live later this week.
🎆 Blackburn with Darwen Council has approved a new fireworks charter aimed at encouraging residents, retailers and event organisers to use fireworks more considerately.
The charter was formally adopted by Blackburn with Darwen Council’s executive member for environment and operations, Cllr Jim Casey, on Friday, November 6.
The new Responsible Fireworks Charter for Blackburn with Darwen sets out a voluntary framework for retailers, event organisers, venues, residents and the council itself, with the aim of promoting the “safe, considerate and lawful use of fireworks”.
The charter stems from a motion proposed by Cllr Amin Kapadia at a full council meeting in July, which argued that residents continued to report fireworks being let off throughout the year and late at night in residential areas.
Councillors said while fireworks formed an important part of celebrations including Bonfire Night, Diwali, New Year, Eid and weddings, their misuse could have a serious impact on families with young children, older residents, shift workers, people living with autism, dementia, PTSD and anxiety, as well as pet owners and livestock keepers.
Raids, fraud and a criminal fled to Dubai: The inside story of Arif Patel
By Jamie Lopez
When his teenage son became Preston North End’s fourth largest shareholder with a £300,000 investment in 2007, Arif Patel was reported to have a net worth of more than £100m.
Sold as a story of a local boy done good, Patel’s clothing business had supposedly grown to an extraordinary degree and he spoke of plans to build a £100 million, 19-storey tower block the city centre and was included on The Sunday Times’ Rich List.
Instead, he was revealed to be at the heart of a major criminal conspiracy which involved one of the biggest tax frauds the country has ever seen. Police raids led to his arrest and a 20-year prison sentence awaits him in the UK if he can ever be extradited from the life of luxury he fled to in Dubai.
In the following two decades, the Patel name would become synonymous with police raids, one of the biggest tax frauds of its kind, and a runaway criminal who fled to Dubai to avoid facing a 20-year prison sentence - Hussain’s father Arif Patel.
From his Middle East hideaway, the elder Patel has seemingly lived a life of luxury, regularly pictured at glamorous events and boasting about generous donations to local charities helping disabled children. A Court of Appeal ruling last week noted it is likely he has millions of pounds squirreled away to fund his lavish lifestyle.
Back in England, lawyers have been instructed by Patel to argue first his innocence and then that he would be unable to repay the £90m he gained from conspiracies which involved tax fraud and selling counterfeit goods. Last week, the Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that assets seized from the 51-year-old - including a property portfolio and a Ferrari supercar - can be sold to cover that £90m total.
From a quiet industrial estate in Fulwood, in the north of the city, the Patel family built a business selling the likes of socks, underwear and nighties into a major operator. Originally operating from factory and warehouse premises on Fletcher Road, the business was taken over by Patel in the 1990s when his own father Umarji became ill.
Known as Faisaltex, the company became the heart of one of the UK’s biggest ever carousel tax frauds - an illegal scheme in which the same shipments are moved around different locations. The method, identified in early 2006 by HMRC, was to fill containers with low value material and waste but declare the goods as high value textiles on which the VAT could be reclaimed.
With his brothers Munaf and Faisal also involved, Patel masterminded a conspiracy which would eventually be described by a judge as a “breathtakingly arrogant and dishonest operation”. The carousel fraud enabled him to steal more than £30m in false VAT repayments which were never due - had HMRC not begun investigating and blocked future payments, another £65m could have been added to that total.
Meanwhile, the criminal enterprise also included sales of counterfeit products such as clothes and aftershave. Seized shipments of the dodgy goods had crates of illicitly-branded items hidden under plain clothes and while the criminal charges for the counterfeit good relate to a period between 2003-07, court documents state it is believed this criminality had originated in the 1990s.
At the time of his son’s investment in the football club, Patel’s fortune was estimated to be in excess of £100m. Using money made from the VAT fraud - which was sent to and held in Dubai and from there in part to shell companies in the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Isles - he built a property portfolio in locations spanning Preston, London, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
In the background, HMRC and Lancashire Constabulary had been investigating the family’s affairs and in early 2008 raids were carried out. Doors were kicked down at the company’s Faisal House headquarters, as well as Patel’s home at Sharoe Green Park. The Harewood Road office of the firm’s accountants and its Liverpool-based solicitors were also raided and all three brothers went on to be arrested, charged and convicted for their roles in the conspiracy.
However, in 2011, Patel was allowed to leave the country under bail conditions which required him to return for the trial. Predictably, he did not.