Convicted property fraudsters Achilleas Kallakis and Alexander Williams have had their jail sentences increased by a total of seven years.
Solicitor general Oliver Heald had referred the case to the Court of Appeal as a possible unduly lenient sentence.
He said today that the offenders both had their sentences increased as a result of the referral.
Kallakis had his seven-year sentence upped to 11 years and Williams saw his five-year term rise to eight years.
The pair were found guilty on 17 January of obtaining £740m in loans from AIB between 2003 and 2007 to buy 16 properties, using deception and forged guarantees purportedly signed by Hong Kong-listed Sun Hung Kai Properties. They were also found guilty of conspiracy to defraud Bank of Scotland.
Heald said: “We welcome the court’s finding that the culpability of the offenders was at the highest level because they set out and persisted over a significant period with planning, determination and audacious dishonesty to commit a commercial fraud with international proportions.”
He added: “Kallakis was very much the ‘front man’ of the pair, enjoying a lavish lifestyle including a private jet, a helicopter, a fleet of cars and a luxury yacht. Williams was a talented forger and was responsible for the production of the false documents which were used to support the loan applications.”
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
