A convicted fraudster who owes taxpayers more than £65 million has taken nearly 360 flights worldwide in the past five years, in an extraordinary spending splurge carried out in defiance of law enforcers.

Prosecutors say Gerald Smith has used private jets as well as business and first class flights to travel in luxury despite claiming to be too poor to pay back his criminal profits.

The most expensive include visits to Dubai, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Vancouver and the Maldives, accompanied by stays in top hotels on at least some occasions.

The allegations will intensify concerns about the ability of criminal “Mr Bigs” to avoid repaying their debts.

Dozens of flights to Europe, including Nice, Mallorca, Vienna, Zurich and Ibiza, are also revealed in court documents.

Court list of Gerald Smith's flights £49,425 Heathrow to Dubai £34,752 Heathrow to Dubai £31,700 Heathrow to Mexico City £24,604 Heathrow to Hong Kong £19,626 Heathrow to Vancouver £17,200 Heathrow to Dubai £16,972 Vancouver to Heathrow £15,364 Gatwick to Bermuda £13,071 Heathrow to Buenos Aires £10,316 Heathrow to Vancouver TOTAL £232,226 Heathrow to: Dubai, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Mexico City, Doha, Geneva, Toronto Gatwick to: Maldives, Bermuda, Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga, Berlin Luton to: Palma de Mallorca, Malta, Perugia, Olbia (Sardinia), Nice, Geneva, Malaga, Krakow, Vienna, Sion (Switzerland), Valencia, Paris, Florence, Barcelona, Milan, Luxembourg, Edinburgh, Inverness Jersey to: Vienna, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Ibiza, Barcelona, Nice, Vienna, Isle of Man, Luton, Southampton, Denham (Buckinghamshire) RAF Northolt to: Palma de Mallorca Farnborough to: Nice Jersey to: Vienna, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Ibiza, Barcelona, Nice, Vienna, Isle of Man, Luton, Southampton, Denham

The three-day trip to Dubai made by Smith and “his entourage” cost just under £50,000. The legal papers show another eight occasions on which his flight and hotel bill is said to have topped £10,000.

They further suggest that during one 12-month period alone, Smith made 105 private jet flights, taking in destinations ranging from Florence and Provence to Barcelona and Malaga, at a total cost of £980,000.

Another £275,000 was spent flying Smith and his associates on British Airways during the same period. Smith, 66, is fighting being sent back to jail for his failure to pay a £41 million confiscation order.

The penalty was imposed in 2007 by a judge at Blackfriars crown court, after his conviction a year earlier for stealing £35 million from dot.com company Izodia.

Smith, who was jailed for eight years, has claimed he wants to pay but is un-able to do so because his wealth is tied up in assets he cannot access owing to ongoing complex civil litigation.

But the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which has been battling for years to obtain payment, believes he has the cash. It wants the courts to enforce a “default” sentence that would put the fraudster back behind bars for an additional eight years. His debt now totals more than £65 million because of interest charges.

In an attempt to prove his defiance, it has submitted a batch of documents highlighting a “conspicuously lavish lifestyle” at a time when he appeared to have no assets.

It includes a full list of flights they claim Smith has taken, including three one-way British Airways trips from London to Dubai costing £49,425, £34,752, and £17,200; and a £24,604 journey from Heathrow to Hong Kong. Other extravagances include trips costing £15,364 to Bermuda, £13,071 to Buenos Aires and £31,700 to Mexico City.

A £7,594 flight from Gatwick to the Maldives is also listed, along with journeys between London and Vancouver costing £10,316, £16,972, and £19,626.

The files reveal frequent use of private jets. One document states that “between October 2014 and September 2015 Smith flew on 105 private jet flights with NetJets to destinations including Palma de Mallorca, Geneva, Jersey, Milan, London, Barcelona, Malaga, Provence, Florence, Paris, Nice, Valencia, Isle of Man and Vienna at a cost of £980,000.”

The bill was paid by Smith’s former wife Dr Gail Cochrane — “with whom he remains on close terms”, the documents say — but he has “habitually used a variety of devices, including members of his family, corporate structures, and nominee or trust arrangements” to conceal his “true ownership” of property.

Another document, prepared for the court by the SFO, de-scribes how receivers from accountancy firm KPMG went to Mallorca to inspect properties believed to be Smith’s assets. They found that he was already there, prompting inquiries into his previous travel which showed that “Smith has not only travelled to Mallorca ... but has made ... a number of other journeys over the last five years; a total of 177 outbound journeys have been found”.

The files, submitted to Folkestone magistrates’ court, which is overseeing enforcement of Smith’s confiscation order, add that there is “limited information as to how the travel has been funded”, although some was paid for by his ex-wife Dr Cochrane and others from “company accounts”.

The legal papers add: “Where possible the cost of flights has been ascertained — there are nine such occasions where, together with what appears to be payments for luxury hotels, the costs for flight and accommodation are over £10,000.” The documents highlight assets investigators believe were bought with Smith’s criminal profits. These include 14 flats in a Holborn mansion block, together worth £16 million; two villas in Mallorca worth £5 million; land at Lake Como and Umbria in Italy; a ski lodge in Whistler, Canada; a £12 million mansion in Jersey where his ex-wife lives; a Chicara Nagata motorcycle and “gold leaf style aluminium wall art”.

The ownership of a £200,000 car and another “high value” vehicle is also un-der investigation. The new revelations about the fraudster’s lifestyle follow a High Court hearing last December over separate civil litigation, in which Smith and other potential creditors are battling over assets worth as much as £200 million in a complex legal saga.

It has involved hundreds of days in court, dozens of lawyers and costs estimated at tens of millions of pounds. There have been allegations of computer hacking and the planting of child pornography, a “no-holds-barred” court battle with multi-million-pound Formula 1 investor Andy Ruhan, and tortuous financial dealings involving property and companies around the world.

Smith told the hearing in December that he wanted to use the money he believes he is owed to pay his confiscation order. He also sought to mount a claim against money raised from the sale of two Kensington hotels once part-owned by the Candy brothers.

But the judge, Mr Justice Popplewell, said he had no right to the cash and was “not to be trusted”. The judge agreed to the appointment of a receiver to oversee the realisation of other assets the SFO says are part of Smith’s criminal profits. A full High Court hearing to resolve the multiple claims to assets is not due until 2020. The separate process at Folkestone over Smith’s unpaid confiscation order will continue later this year.