A former HSBC worker who led a lavish lifestyle by laundering stolen cash has failed in an Appeal Court bid to get his jail term cut.
Mansoor Sanobar, 33, from Walsall, was locked up for two years and 11 months at Birmingham Crown Court in March. He admitted transferring and converting criminal property, Lord Justice Flaux told London's Appeal Court.
Co-defendant Abdul Khan got three years two months. Both men worked for HSBC and, between 2014 and 2016, Khan used 'various methods' to transfer £221,000 out of the bank's internal accounts.
Around £190,000 of the money was moved electronically to Sanobar's credit cards and entered his bank account before being transferred on.
There was evidence both men had been 'living extravagant lifestyles', said the judge.
Prosecutors accepted that Sanobar did not initially know or suspect the transfers were improper. But, after he became 'suspicious', he continued to help Khan.
Police found more than £11,300 and over £2,000-worth of gold bullion in a bag at Khan’s home, Birmingham Crown Court heard. And more than £14,000 had been transferred into foreign currency. It later emerged that Khan spent some of the funds on hotel accommodation in Dubai in June 2106.
Sanobar had two previous convictions for five offences, the court heard. His lawyers argued that his jail term was too tough 'when one has regard to what this man did'.
He 'did nothing wrong at all in the course of his employment', the court was told.
Sanobar had shown remorse, was the primary carer for two elderly parents and character references described his 'exemplary conduct'.
