Car thief must pay back pounds 828k; Crook told: Cough up or four more years in jail: Car thief in jail warning.

Byline: Mark Cowan

A CROOK ordered to pay back pounds 800,000 he raked in with a stolen car export racket has had his jail sentence more than doubled - on the day hewas to be released.

Mponjoli Malakasuka was due to be freed from a three-and-a-half year sentence for his conviction over his part in a pounds 1.5 million scam to export prestige motors abroad.

But police trying to claw back the hundreds of thousands of pounds he made from the crimes yesterday took him back to court for failing to cough up the cash.

And the 36-year-old, from Yew Tree, in Walsall, was sentenced to an additional four years in jail unless he pays up a whopping pounds 828,000 within 28 days.

Malakasuka, originally from Tanzania, was convicted of conspiracy to steal in July last year. The courtwas told that he played a part in an elaborate fraud which saw dozens of prestige cars such as Aston Martins, Range Rovers and BMWs stolen from wealthy areas in the Midlands and then exported in sealed shipping containers to Tanzania and Kenya. Malakasuka was arrested in 2007 when police ran a check on his Mercedes and found it was stolen.

Detectives delving though his financial records showed homes in Tanzania and 70 bank accounts were used to siphon the proceeds of the theft.

Earlier this year, a judge ordered him to pay back the money under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The enforcement hearing yesterday ruled that Malakasuka had not complied with the order and imposed the further four years in prison as a default. Even if the fraudster serves the four years, the debt will remain. Malakasuka, whose gang operated across the West Midlands, Staffordshire the north and London, is also facing deportation on his release.

During the investigation of his finances, officers uncovered evidence linking him to a complex pounds 85 million fraud against the Government in his native Tanzania. Detective Inspector Andy Bannister, from West Midlands Police's Financial Investigation team, said: "Throughout the process Malakasuka has sought to thwart the investigation by not complying."

CAPTION(S):

Elaborate fraud: Mponjoli Malakasuka.