£800,000 payback for money laundering

A BUSINESSMAN who laundered hundreds of thousands of pounds for a gang based in Oldham has been ordered to repay more than £800,000.

Rochdale Businessman Ian Nigel Duncan Cole (53), of Kirkhill Avenue, Haslingden, admitted four counts of money laundering, one count of fraud and a separate offence of perverting the course of justice and was previously jailed for a total five and a half years.

In June 2008, an investigation was launched into an organised crime gang based in Oldham that were involved in the sale and supply of drugs.

During the operation 27 kilos of heroin, a kilo of cocaine and three commercial cannabis farms, with an estimated street value of £2.5m, were recovered.

Mohammed Farid, 41, of Wellington Road, Oldham, was identified as being at the head of the gang. He was jailed for 17 years and five months in June, 2012, on drugs and money laundering offences.

An investigation was launched into the gang’s finances and investigators found Cole was significant in the laundering of drug money. He ran several Rochdale businesses.

At a hearing yesterday he was found to have benefited by over £4..3 million, and ordered to repay £832,623.

If he fails to repay the money within six months, he will face a further three and a half years in prison.