UK duo confess to funding Dubai trips via $1.5m scam

Two UK nationals have confessed to orchestrating a GBP £1m (US$1.5m) taxi scam in order to fund regular trips to Dubai, it was reported.

According to London’s The Daily Mail, Crown Prosecution Service employees Lisa Burrows and Tahir Mahmood admitted to producing fake invoices for taxi fares in order to claim back the cash from their employer over a period of five years.

The duo confessed to inventing a fake cab firm that they claimed was used especially for witnesses travelling to and from courts. The money they made was then used to fund holidays to the Gulf emirate and pay off a mortgage, the newspaper said.

Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency is now attempting to trace where exactly the money went.

The two have been told to expect prison sentences.  “You have both pleaded guilty to what is a serious offence and both of you recognise that the court will impose a custodial sentence when you come back to be sentenced,” said Judge Nicholas Webb.

Both were remanded in custody as the case was adjourned until July.