MP's son freed pending new appeal

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The son of Labour MP Mohammed Sarwar has been freed from jail pending an appeal against his conviction for a £850,000 money laundering scam.

The Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh heard a plea for sympathy for Athif Sarwar and his family.

The court heard that the family had suffered threats over Mohammed Sarwar's role in bringing the murderers of Kriss Donald to justice.

Defence QC Gordon Jackson said Athif Sarwar would not flee from justice.

Mr Jackson said Athif Sarwar had waited patiently for three years for his case to come to trial and observed all the conditions of bail.

He was jailed for three years for processing cash from VAT frauds amounting to £845,137 between February and April 2003, but he continues to protest his innocence.

The real happiness will come when my son is acquitted and I have no doubt in my mind he is innocent and he will be cleared Mohammed Sarwar

Mr Jackson told the appeal judges that detailed grounds of appeal had been lodged and had "a realistic prospect of success".

After the decision, Mr Sarwar turned in the dock and smiled at his family in the public benches.

Mohammed Sarwar, MP for Glasgow Central, said: "The real happiness will come when my son is acquitted and I have no doubt in my mind he is innocent and he will be cleared."

After a six week trial, Athif Sarwar, of Meanskirk, Glasgow, was found guilty of using his wholesale cash and carry firm to launder the money in return for a 10% cut.

Another man, Mansoor Khan, 43, of Giffnock, Glasgow, who was assistant manager at Sarwar's United Wholesale warehouse, was cleared by the jury.

Within days of the conviction his father announced that he was giving up his seat in parliament.

Disturbing texts

Mr Jackson also produced a doctor's report which concluded that Athif Sarwar would suffer mentally and physically if kept in jail, because of the increasing depression brought about by the court case.

He also needed to be with his family because of the intimidation they had faced.

Mr Jackson quoted from a letter from the detective who led the hunt for the Kriss Donald murderers, confirming that police considered the threats to be real, because of Mohammed Sarwar's intervention.

Since then, there had been disturbing text messages and intimidating voice mail directed against the family, including threats to kidnap Athif Sarwar's children and hold them until Kriss Donald's killers were freed.

Advocate depute Alex Prentice said the Crown did not oppose Athif Sarwar's bid for freedom.

However, they said that when the date for his appeal was set, they would contest his claim that he was wrongly convicted.

Lord Osborne, sitting with Lords Macfadyen and Marnoch, said they were persuaded that Mr Sarwar should be freed as long as he surrendered his passport.