A money launderer and his accomplice have been jailed after funnelling £5.9 million through a fake company for crime bosses.

Shazad Malik, 43, of Cairo Road, Walthamstow, used a sham company, Sky Drinks Ltd, to launder money on behalf of organised criminals across London and Essex.

He and his associate, Asher Frank, 40, of Harlow Gardens, Romford, were jailed for five-and-a-half years and three years respectively at Southwark Crown Court yesterday (Thursday, November 10).

Malik’s associate, Asher Frank, 40, of Harlow Gardens, Romford, acted as a courier, collecting the cash from underworld associates.

In a bid to legitimise the criminal earnings, Frank then paid the money into bank accounts controlled by Malik.

The 12-month scam unravelled when HMRC swooped on Frank’s Peugeot in Barking in July 2012.

He tried to flee the scene by driving at officers before speeding away – only to be trapped by heavy traffic.

When he was caught, more than £70,000 in cash and a paying-in book in the name of Sky Drinks Ltd were discovered in his vehicle.

In the days before his arrest, Frank was observed by HMRC agents visiting criminal associates and paying in £360,000 in cash at banks in Barking, Dagenham and Romford.

During interview, Frank said he was simply a courier and hadn’t stopped for HMRC because he believed he was being robbed.

Enquiries linked the paying-in book to an account held by Malik, who told HMRC in an interview in October 2012 Sky Drinks acted as an agent for its sole customer, a Belgian company.

He said the Belgian firm would regularly send Frank to the UK with large amounts of sterling to pay him in cash and Frank would use his paying-in book to deposit the money into Sky Drinks’ account.

Malik could not provide credible business records to show the £5.9m paid into his accounts came from legitimate trade. Checks revealed Sky Drinks was not registered for tax.

Malik admitted the offence on the second day of the pair’s trial at Southwark Crown Court on October 18 and Frank was found guilty on October 27.

Paul Barton, assistant director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “This was an audacious attempt to launder the proceeds of crime.

“Malik and Frank believed they would go unnoticed moving large amounts of dirty cash around London and Essex. They were wrong, and today their greed has cost them their liberty.”