The man now known as 'Omar Victory' pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation and to contravening the Private Security Industry Act. He was sentenced to a £200 fine, £160 prosecution costs and a £85 victim surcharge, which must be paid with 14 days. He also now has a further criminal conviction which will prevent him from working in the security industry.
The Security Industry Authority (SIA) brought the case against 'Omar Victory' as part of our criminal investigation into his suspected fraudulent licence application. On 2 March 2023 'Omar Victory' took part in an interview-under-caution at Bristol's Patchway Police Station with SIA investigators. Immediately prior to the start of the interview he stated that he had previously changed his name to 'Kareem Omar Zafar.'
On 28 November 2022, 'Omar Victory' had failed to notify the SIA that he changed his name to 'Kareem Omar Zafar, which is a contravention of his SIA licence conditions.
On 7 July 2022, 'Omar Victory' applied to the SIA to renew his expired SIA licence, but he dishonestly failed to disclose his previous name, Umar Farooq Zafar.
On 10 July 2019, Omar Victory dishonestly made a false representation to the SIA, when on his SIA door supervisor's licence application, he stated that he had not been known by any other names.
'Omar Victory' had received a new British passport on 12 June 2017. The SIA's Criminal Investigation Team sought corroboration from His Majesty's Passport Office; they received a passport application on 22 May 2017 showing a change of name from 'Umar Farooq Zafar' to 'Omar Victory'.
Under the name 'Umar Farooq Zafar' 'Omar Victory' had a previous conviction which may have led to his licence being suspended or revoked or application for new licence refused had this been disclosed, as required.
Mark Chapman, one of the SIA's Criminal Investigations Managers, said:
In failing to declare his various name changes Omar Victory sought to disguise his adverse antecedent history from the SIA. Under both his birth name Umar Zafar and his alias Omar Farooq Zafar, he had serious criminal convictions. Deliberately failing to disclose these to evade our scrutiny and illegally obtain a licence is a criminal offence. In this he sought to make a gain for himself by obtaining a legitimate SIA licence by fraudulent means. The licensing regime and the regulations that underpin it are there to protect the public and through his actions Omar Victory has demonstrated that he is wholly unsuitable to be the holder of an SIA licence.
I also wish to thank our enforcement partners Gwent Police, Gloucestershire Police and HM Passport Office who were instrumental in providing evidence of the various name changes and Omar Victory's duplicity, thus enabling us to prosecute and convict him.
Notes:
- By law, security operatives working under contract must hold and display a valid SIA licence
- Read about SIA enforcement and penalties
- The offence relating to the Fraud Act 2006 that are mentioned above are:
- Section 2 - fraud by false representation
- Section 3 - failing to disclose information
- The offence relating to the Private Security Industry Act 2001 that is mentioned above is:
- Section 9 - contravening SIA licence conditions
