SFO returns £400,000 to fraud victims through civil recovery action
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has recovered £400,000 to be returned to nine fraud victims, 24 years after they were defrauded, through civil recovery action, despite no criminal conviction being secured. The recovery concerns an advance fee fraud scheme operated by Abdullah Ali Jammal, a former director of a retail-depositor bank, who obtained over £4.4m from 18 victims worldwide between 2001 and 2002. The SFO concluded that a conviction was unlikely, as Mr Jammal had fled the UK before being charged, and determined that the case warranted an alternative recovery route. Investigators worked with international law enforcement agencies, including the Australian Federal Police, Belgian Police, the French Liaison Magistrate and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, to trace victims and secure their consent for the action. The approach departs from standard civil recovery proceedings, as funds will be returned directly to victims rather than to HM Treasury. The SFO has said it intends to use this approach in other relevant cases.