TWO POLITICAL REFUGEES WHO FORGED #40 MILLION IN F
TWO POLITICAL REFUGEES WHO FORGED #40 MILLION IN FOREIGN
CURRENCY AND MORE THAN 700 PASSPORTS TO SMUGGLE DISSIDENTS OUT OF
IRAN WERE JAILED FOR A TOTAL OF NINE YEARS TODAY (FRI).
THEY WERE FOUND GUILTY OF SETTING UP AN ELABORATE SCHEME TO
FORGE 300,000 SAUDI ARABIAN RIYALS AND 200,000 IRAQUI DINARS.
THE CASH WOULD HAVE FLOODED THE MARKET AND ”UNDERMINED THE
CURRENCIES OF SAUDI ARABIA AND IRAQ,” JUDGE HYAM TOLD INNER LONDON
CROWN COURT.
ALTHOUGH NO POLITICAL MOTIVE WAS INDICATED BY PROSECUTOR MR
STEPHEN MITCHELL IT WAS ALLEGED THE TWO ”MIDDLE MEN” WERE WORKING
FOR A PRO-SHAH PROPAGANDA ORGANISATION.
POSING AS IRANIAN OFFICIALS, FARIBORZ ABBASSI, 41, AND MAJID
VAKILZADEH, 30, BOTH LIVING IN KINGSBURY, APPROACHED SELF-EMPLOYED
BOOK-BINDER, ROBERT GREEN, OF UMFREVILLE ROAD, HARRINGEY, WITH THREE
FAKE OFFICIAL LETTERS AUTHORISING THE PRINTING OF THE NOTES, THE
COURT HEARD.
AND AFTER 47-YEAR-OLD GREEN HAD ORGANISED THE ILLEGAL PLATE
MAKING PROCESS HE APPROACHED PARAGON PRESS, OF BRUNNER ROAD,
WALTHAMSTOW.
BUT SUSPECTING FOUL PLAY, THE PRINTERS CONTACTED THE POLICE.
A MEETING BETWEEN GREEN AND THE TWO IRANIANS WAS SET UP AND THE
TWO SUSPECTS WERE ARRESTED OUTSIDE A FINCHLEY PUB ON JUNE 7 LAST
YEAR.
ON BEING QUESTIONED BY POLICE, GREEN DENIED HAVING ANY
CONNECTION IN THE MAKING OF FORGERY PLATES, CLAIMING THAT ABBASSI AND
VAKILZADEH HAD PROVIDED ALL THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT.
WHEN THE TWO IRANIANS WERE ARRESTED THEY CLAIMED GREEN HAD
ORGANISED THE MAKING OF THE FORGERY PLATES AND HE WAS ARRESTED THE
FOLLOWING DAY.
MORE.
.
.
CENTRAL/IRAN.
.
.
3
BUT THE TWO MEN DENIED IN COURT ANY KNOWLEDGE OF A FORGERY
CONSPIRACY CLAIMING THEY HAD MET GREEN TO DISCUSS THE BINDING OF
A VALUABLE IRANIAN BOOK.
AFTER FURTHER ENQUIRIES POLICE FOUND A FORGED ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF
IRAN PASSPORT AT ABBASSI’S OFFICE IN KENSINGTON HIGH STREET.
A FURTHER 730 SIMILAR PASSPORTS WERE FOUND AT A WINDSOR ADDRESS.
ABBASSI ADMITTED POSSESSION OF THE PASSPORT FOUND IN HIS
HOME.
BUT TOGETHER WITH GREEN AND VAKILZADEH DENIED CHARGES OF
CONSPIRACY TO MAKE FALSE PASSPORTS AND CONSPIRACY TO CONTRAVENE
THE FORGERY AND COUNTERFIET ACT.
AFTER THE 24 DAY TRIAL AND 8 HOURS OF DELIBERATION BY THE JURY,
GREEN AND VAKILZADEH WERE FOUND GUILTY OF CONSPIRACY TO
MAKE CONUTERFEIT MONEY.
ABBASSI WAS FOUND GUILTY OF ALL CHARGES.
DEFENDING THE TWO IRANIANS MR COLIN NICHOLLS, QC, TOLD THE
COURT: ”THESE TWO MEN WERE MIDDLE MEN AND A CONSIDERABLE WAY FROM
THE REAL CRIMINALS IN THIS CASE.
MORE.
.
.
.
CENTRAL/IRAN.
.
.
.
4
”THEY ALLOWED THEMSELVES TO BE USED AS AGENTS RATHER THAN
PRINCIPAL ORGANISERS.
”
HE ADDED: ”THE MOTIVE FOR ABBASSI BEHIND THE COLLECTION OF FALSE
PASSPORTS WAS TO GET PEOPLE OUT OF IRAN AND THE KHOMEINI REGIME.
”
BUT SENTENCING THE TWO IRANIANS, JUDGE HYAM SAID: ”IF THIS MONEY
HAD GONE INTO CIRCULATION IT WOULD HAVE UNDERMINED THE CURRENCIES OF
SAUDI ARABIA AND IRAQ.
”
TURNING TO ABBASSI, HE SAID: ”I DO NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ANY
POLITICAL MOTIVATION WHICH YOU MAY HAVE HAD IN THE PRODUCTION OF
THESE PASSPORTS.
BUT I BEAR IN MIND THE FORCED CIRCUMSTANCES OF YOUR
LIVING IN THIS COUNTRY AS A POLITICAL REFUGEE.
”
ABBASSI, OF KINLOCH DRIVE, KINGSBURY, WAS JAILED FOR A TOTAL OF
FIVE YEARS.
VAKILZADEH, OF WOOD LANE, KINGSBURY, WAS SENTENCED TO
FOUR YEARS INMPRISONMENT.
GREEN, SENTENCED EARLIER THIS WEEK, WAS JAILED FOR 30 MONTHS AND
FINED #6,000.
ENDS
