Fraudster Mark Acklum is challenging a bid to seize his assets, five years after he was jailed for a notorious romance scam.
His lawyer told the judge that another man admitted to “stealing” money from the victim, so it was difficult to know how much Aklum received.
Aklum, 50, was jailed on the charge Fraud on divorced woman Carolyn Woods 300 thousand pounds sterling after he proposed to her and promised to marry her in Gloucestershire.
He used a fake name and convinced her he was a wealthy banker and MI6 agent, before fleeing.
After his extradition from Switzerland in 2019, he admitted five charges, but originally faced 20 charges amounting to theft of £750,000.
The Crown Prosecution Service now wants the court to determine exactly how much Aklum benefited from his crimes against Ms Woods – and what he has left – so it can try to seize his assets.
Prosecutors believe Aklum, who was first jailed for fraud when he was 18, profited off £1.3 million throughout his criminal career, during which he was imprisoned in several countries.
His lawyer Martin Sharp said prosecutors had abused the existing confiscation process under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) by not disclosing certain documents to the defence.
Mr Sharpe told a Bristol court: “Paul Corr is the person who confessed during the interview [with police] That he stole money from the complainant [Ms Woods].
“Part of the prosecution case is that the money Mr Aklum took from the complainant transferred it to Paul Kaur’s account.”
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Caroline Woods was scammed by Mark Acklum
“In order to assess the benefit to Mr Aklum, we need to know how much money he has,” Mr Sharp said [Kaur] Taking.”
The lawyer said he did not know how much money Mr Kaur had taken because he had not spoken to him and “because he would not cooperate”. He said he did not know how to contact Mr Kaur.
Corr, a businessman, told Sky News last year that he worked for Aklum and, like Ms Woods, had been deceived by him. No charges were brought against him by the police.
The attempt to prove that Acklum benefited from Ms Woods' fraud began, virtually, from the day he was imprisoned and several court hearings were held.
The latest takes place before Judge Martin Picton, who sentenced Aklum and told him at the time that he had acted in a “completely cruel and selfish manner”.
Read more:
Conman – The Life and Crimes of Mark Acklum
Aklum's victim demands £750,000 from the bank he used
The court was told today that Aklum was He was released from a Spanish prison last yearafter being extradited at the end of his sentence in the United Kingdom.
He was subject to a Spanish confiscation order worth €374,000 (£321,000). His lawyer did not know whether he had paid the amount or not.
Aklum did not appear in court in Bristol. He lives in Spain with his family and is likely to become a Spanish citizen. His wife is Spanish.
Judge Picton said the hearings had “continued for some time, to put it mildly”, and said that so far he had “not heard a single word from Mr Aklum”.
He added: “It leaves me very confused because we are spending so much time, here today, tomorrow and in four more days establishing a country.” [monetary] A number that even has an outside chance of being recovered from someone who lives outside the jurisdiction.”
Aklum's attorney described the forfeiture law as a “confused landscape.”
The hearing was postponed for a day after the judge suggested that lawyers for both sides could discuss a possible agreement before returning to court on Tuesday.
Judge Picton is expected to make a final decision on the forfeiture order in April.
Paul Kaur has been asked to respond.
