A crooked solicitor who was convicted of running a complex property fraud has been ordered to cough up £1.2 million.
Shameer Farouk Sacranie, who fled overseas before his original trial 18 months ago and is still at large, has to pay back the proceeds of his crime or have eight years added to his sentence of 10 years.
The order was made by a judge at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday.
The 42-year-old, of Naseby Road, Leicester was convicted in his absence in September 2014 of perpetrating the huge scam.
The trial, also at Nottingham Crown Court, heard Sacranie, a conveyancer, had taken money from house-buyers to pay their stamp duty, but kept the cash for himself.
In total, he conned the public purse out of over £1 million, which he used to fund his business.
He fled the UK while he was under investigation by HM Revenue and Customs, (HMRC), even though his passport had been confiscated.
However, he is instructing lawyers in the UK to represent him.
He is thought to be living in Dubai and aware of Friday's confiscation order, which was made under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
The original trial heard he made false stamp duty and land tax claims while working as a director for SFS Legal solicitors, in Barkby Road, Leicester, between June 27, 2006, and December 7, 2011.
Under UK law, home buyers are required to pay stamp duty and land tax on properties over a certain value.
He worked the scam by lying about the sale prices of the houses to take them below the threshold where stamp duty was payable.
The scam involved 139 property deals.
Sacranie came to the attention of HMRC investigators looking into tax avoidance schemes across the country.
He was arrested on December 7, 2011. In interview, he told investigators the scheme only took advantage of a loophole in the law.
