Jawaid Ishaq, ex-mayor of North Lincolnshire jailed for £66,000 fraud Published duration 20 March 2015

image caption Jawaid Ishaq was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court

A former mayor of North Lincolnshire who defrauded a friend out of about £66,000 has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Jawaid Ishaq, 72, from Scunthorpe, forged a power of attorney document to gain control of Ali Sultan's shares and a bank account.

He was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court, having been found guilty by a jury of nine counts of fraud and theft.

Judge Paul Watson QC said he was guilty of "dishonesty on a grand scale".

Ishaq, a Labour councillor in Scunthorpe for more than 30 years and an MBE, befriended Mr Sultan, from Yemen, when they attended the same mosque.

When Mr Sultan returned to Yemen in 1997 he signed a document granting power of attorney to Ishaq in relation to two houses in Scunthorpe.

'Ruthless and systematic'

But police later recovered a handwritten power of attorney document from Ishaq's house, which also included references to various bank accounts and shares.

The judge told Ishaq: "Throughout your trial you maintained the position that he was being cheated and stolen from by his own family. It was you all along who was the liar and the cheat."

Ishaq, of Normanby Road, Scunthorpe was cleared of five charges of fraud and forgery on the direction of the judge and acquitted of one count of theft.

Speaking after the case, Peter Mann, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said Ishaq had abused the trust placed in him by Mr Sultan.

"This was a flagrant breach of trust and authority by an individual who was very well known locally and had a substantial standing within the community," he said.

"Rather than acting in his friend's best financial interests, and motivated we can only assume by greed, Ishaq ruthlessly and systematically defrauded him of approximately £66,000."