A decade after a property dealer was jailed for one of the UK’s biggest mortgage frauds, the Serious Fraud Office has brought further confiscation orders against him - over money recovered by his son from a donation to a school.
Appearing at Southwark Crown Court, before His Honour Judge Baumgartner, the court heard Achilleas Kallakis made two donations in 2005 – one of £75,000 and a second of £175,000 - to Francis Holland School, an independent school attended by a family member.
The school used the money to build a 'Kallakis Theatre' with a plaque commemorating the benefactor.
Years later, the school removed the plaque and renamed the theatre. Kallakis’ son Michalis Kallakis sued for breach of contract in a bid to recover the donation on behalf of him and his family. A settlement of £92,500 plus costs was reached between Michalis and the school.
The SFO claims the £92,500 was obtained as a result of criminal proceedings as the donations came from ‘surplus funds from loans obtained from AIB [Allied Irish Banks]’.
Kallakis was sentenced in 2013 to seven years and five months imprisonment and six years of disqualification from acting as a company director after being found guilty by a jury of conspiring to defraud banks of more than £750m. His prison sentence was later increased to 11 years by the Court of Appeal.
Kallakis, along with co-conspirator Alexander Williams, used forged or false documents to obtain loans to finance the purchase of a property portfolio. He claimed to be a property tycoon who asked the banks to lend him millions to fund lucrative property deals. The loans obtained were often higher than the value of the properties Kallakis bought, including homes in Mayfair and Knightsbridge as well as commercial properties.
A year later, Kallakis was ordered to pay a confiscation order of £3.25m within six months.
The current hearing, which is due to last two days, continues.
