By Kate McClymont
Ahsan Ali Syed had all the trappings of wealth: a private jet, a luxury Swiss apartment overlooking Lake Lucerne, an opulent office in Bahrain and a top-tier Spanish football team, Racing Santander.
But after a decade on the run, the jet-setting fraudster is behind bars in Switzerland, largely due to the efforts of Sydney property developer Keith Johnson and New Zealander Mark Van Leewarden, a former undercover cop turned barrister who specialises in international fraud investigations.
Ahsan Ali Syed in his Bahrain office.Credit: Facebook
From September 2010 to May 2011, Syed scammed close to $50 million from Australian and New Zealand businesspeople who had trouble getting finance in the wake of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis.
“He used an opulent office in Bahrain to lure the victims,” said Van Leewarden, who has spent years in pursuit of Syed.
From all accounts, Syed looked the part sitting at his polished desk, wearing a silk cravat, bejewelled fingers and surrounded by busts of horse heads.
His company, Western Gulf Advisory (WGA), boasted that “Mr Ali is a trusted adviser of royal individuals and families, high-profile luminaries and people of public importance”. He also claimed to have a family fortune of $8 billion to invest.
Ahsan Ali Syed, who bought Racing Santander using millions of dollars scammed from victims. Credit: AFP
The truth was far different. Syed was wanted in India over an immigration racket and, having moved to London, he fled from there in 2005 owing £7800 ($12,520) in rent, along with a string of unpaid bills.
Three years later he set up WGA and began his scam, offering loans of up to $US200 million. However, borrowers had to stump up an establishment fee worth 1.6 per cent of the loan. The promised loans to his 23 victims never eventuated.
One of those who made the trek to Bahrain was Johnson, one of NSW’s largest property developers. “It was a dark time and we were in such a desperate position,” Johnson told the Herald this week.
In 2010 Johnson paid a $US3.67 million establishment fee. In October that year WGA sent Johnson a letter that read, “With the approval of the Board of Directors, it gives me immense pleasure to issue an inprincipal [sic] sanction of USD 155,000,000.”
Property developer Keith Johnson.Credit: Simone De Peak
At this same time Terry Serepisos, a prominent New Zealand entrepreneur, appeared to be riding high. He’d been hosting the local version of The Apprentice, the TV show made famous by Donald Trump. Serepisos had also bought A-League football team the Wellington Phoenix.
Behind the scenes Serepisos was in dire financial straits and had travelled to Bahrain to secure a $100 million loan from WGA, which was to fund him becoming a half-owner of the football team.
Like others, Serepisos was scammed by WGA and was subsequently bankrupted in 2011.
According to the Swiss indictment, Syed’s “sole interest and intention was that these companies would transfer the largest possible sums of money to him or the Western Gulf Advisory group and that he could use these sums of money to finance a luxurious lifestyle for himself and his family”.
Convicted fraudster Ahsan Ali Syed.Credit: Instagram
Syed, 52, who was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, was arrested when he flew into London from Turkey in November 2022. He spent two years detained in a British jail while unsuccessfully fighting an extradition request from Zurich prosecutors, who had frozen his Swiss bank accounts and seized his luxury villa.
The Zurich District Court heard details of the impact on victims, who spoke of the stress of losing their jobs, their houses and their businesses as a result of Syed’s frauds. This week he was jailed for 6½ years.
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