Garage owner sentenced to four years in prison

A garage owner and his former wife have been jailed for Britain's biggest ever MOT scam.

Roobik Mirzabegi, 51, of Old Lane, Beeston in Leeds was found guilty of three counts of conspiracy to defraud at Leeds Crown Court last October, after an investigation by the Vehicle Operator Services Agency (VOSA) and West Yorkshire Police.

He was sentenced to four years in prison for each count to run concurrently. His ex-wife Julie Mirzabegi was sentenced to 9 months for fraud and 2 years for money laundering, also to run concurrently.

Mirzabegi used four garages in the city to issue thousands of invalid MOT certificates for vehicles that were not properly tested. He is believed to have made vast sums of money due to the scale of the operation.

In his summing up, the Judge acknowledged the depth of investigation that was carried out by VOSA and the Police. He said that "had it not been for VOSA computerising the MOT testing scheme, this fraud may have continued much longer".

His brother, Hakop Mirzabaigian, was also found guilty of forgery in October and was fined £6,500. Ten other men received sentences in January 2007 for their involvement in the case.

Alex Fiddes, VOSA Chief Operating Officer said: " I am delighted with the prison sentences that the Judge handed out. It demonstrates that VOSA will apply as much resource as necessary to bring the most serious instances of offending in the MOT scheme before the courts. MOT computerisation has brought new opportunities for fraud detection.

Hopefully this sends a clear message to the MOT trade that VOSA and the Police have the means to detect and punish serious wrongdoing."