Press release -
Insurance fraudster who’d set fire to his factory sentenced to 13 months
A company director has been jailed for 13 months for setting fire to his factory in an attempt to defraud his insurer, Allianz.
Haroon Bashir had admitted starting the blaze at his printer supply factory in Dundee. The Sherriff Court sentenced him to 13 months in prison today.
“This is a good result for our Major Loss Team. Not only does it emphasise our zero tolerance approach to fraud, it also demonstrate how strongly we collaborate with all our suppliers,” commented James Burge, head of counter fraud at Allianz Commercial.
The fire had occurred on 11 February 2018 in a room storing ink cartridges for printer supplies company Fazteck. The building was owned by a company called Chohan. Both businesses, which were managed by Mr Bashir and his family, filed claims for losses totalling just over £2m.
However, investigations from Allianz and its partner suppliers quickly established the fire was suspicious. Naked flames had started the blaze, suggesting arson. And CCTV footage showed Mr Bashir emerging from a building where smoke was coming from. Finally, a search of the Fazteck premises recovered policy documents where information on claims pay-outs had been highlighted.
The evidence gathered by Sedgwick and the legal work carried out by BLM contributed to Mr Bashir pleading guilty to wilful fire raising and attempted fraud when his case was heard at the Dundee Sheriff Court.
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About Allianz Holdings plc
Allianz Holdings plc is the non-regulated holding company which owns the principal insurance operations of Allianz SE in Great Britain including Allianz Insurance plc.
About Allianz Group
The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with more than 100 million* private and corporate customers in more than 70 countries. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing around 790 billion euros on behalf of its insurance customers. Furthermore, our asset managers PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors manage 1.7 trillion euros of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we are amongst the leaders in the insurance industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2020, over 150,000 employees achieved total revenues of 140 billion euros and an operating profit of 10.8 billion euros for the group.
*Including non-consolidated entities with Allianz customers
These assessments are, as always, subject to the disclaimer provided below.
Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements
This document includes forward-looking statements, such as prospects or expectations, that are based on management's current views and assumptions and subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance figures, or events may differ significantly from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Deviations may arise due to changes in factors including, but not limited to, the following: (i) the general economic and competitive situation in the Allianz Group's core business and core markets, (ii) the performance of financial markets (in particular market volatility, liquidity, and credit events), (iii) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, including those resulting from natural catastrophes, and the development of loss expenses, (iv) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (v) persistency levels, (vi) particularly in the banking business, the extent of credit defaults, (vii) interest rate levels, (viii) currency exchange rates, most notably the EUR/USD exchange rate, (ix) changes in laws and regulations, including tax regulations, (x) the impact of acquisitions including and related integration issues and reorganization measures, and (xi) the general competitive conditions that, in each individual case, apply at a local, regional, national, and/or global level. Many of these changes can be exacerbated by terrorist activities.
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The Allianz Group assumes no obligation to update any information or forward-looking statement contained herein, save for any information we are required to disclose by law.
