A couple who set up one of the country's top private sixth-form colleges used it like a 'piggy bank' to fund a luxury life of Rolex watches and grand pianos, a court heard today.
Self-styled 'tiger mum' Yasmin, 48, and husband Nadeem Sarwar, 50, set up top private school Cardiff Sixth Form as a charity before allegedly milking more than £5million of parents' school fees.
The Sarwars are accused of using the registered charity at the school as a personal 'piggy bank', appropriating tens of thousands from funds on luxury goods such as expensive jewellery and grand pianos.
A jury heard details of a set of transfers of money from Britain's top A-level sixth form college marked as 'expenses' ran into tens of thousands of pounds.
A £30,000 yellow gold Rolex was bought from the Watches of Switzerland in Cardiff's St David's shopping centre in December 2013.
Charity director Mrs Sarwar then took the newly-bought watch when she went into the nearby Pravins jewellery shop looking for earrings.
The shop assistant described Mrs Sarwar as being comfortable in the surroundings of the boutique and as being 'very knowledgeable about fine, high-end jewellery'.
The jury was told she showed the assistant the Rolex and told her she had just got a 'good discount' on the timepiece.
Yasmin Sarwar, 48, is on trial accused of stealing more than £5million from Cardiff Sixth Form College, which she set up with her husband Nadeem, 'in order to fund their lavish lifestyle'
Nadeem Sarwar, 50, (pictured outside court) has admitted stealing £5million from Cardiff Sixth Form College between February 2008 and October 2016
Then Sarwar told the assistant she could do the same.
The court heard a pair of platinum and diamond ear studs were bought for some £23,000.
Two grand pianos were bought from Gardeners Pianos in Cardiff in February 2014, with a £2,688 Kawai piano subsequently delivered to the college building.
But a £13,312 Kawai was delivered to the Sarwar family home address in the upmarket Cyncoed area of Cardiff.
It is the prosecution case that Sarwar was a 'wilful, intelligent, and manipulative woman' who was a 'willing participant in fraudulent activity'.
The prosecution also say that after the Sarwars' relationship 'went sour' the defendant was prepared to set up sham companies 'to divert huge sums of money from her husband'.
Prosecutor Mark Cotter KC said Mrs Sarwar began tutoring A-Level students before she set up the 'top performing' Cardiff Sixth Form College gaining 'international recognition'.
The couple registered the college as a charity before allegedly stealing millions of pounds to buy properties and live a 'lavish lifestyle'.
Cardiff Sixth Form College has become one of the country’s top performing academic institutions and reached the top of the league tables for A-levels in 2010
Mr Cotter said: 'Yasmin Sarwar and her then husband treated the college as their own personal piggy bank.
'They raided the funds that college generated to fund their own lavish lifestyles and thereby defrauded the charity.
'So relentless and widespread was their assault on the charitable funds that it proved impossible for the accountants retained by the college, to produce proper audited accounts.'
Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard the couple then hired Ragu Sivapalan, 41, as a 'new, less rigorous accountant' who took what they said at 'face value' to report false information.
Mr Cotter said the college first welcomed fee-paying international students in 2009 and began successfully marketing internationally.
He said: 'It became one of the top performing sixth form colleges in the country with international recognition.'
The court heard the couple, both originally from Malaysia, also recruited family members to sit as trustees on the school board.
Mr Cotter said: 'Yasmin Sarwar was a wilful, intelligent and manipulative woman who was a willing participant in the fraudulent activity taking place in the college.
'So committed was she to the draining of college money into her own pocket, she was prepared to set up sham companies to divert huge sums of money away from her husband, after their relationship went sour, and overseas.'
The court heard Mrs Sarwar set up two companies called Ayass Ltd and Ayass Guardianship Ltd to allegedly run 'welfare programmes' for students at the school.
The companies were set up in the lead up to the divorce petition between the couple in 2014 before 'vast sums of money' were sent to Malaysia and 'never seen again.'
The court heard the companies were allegedly running schemes including a summer school and the Goodwill Ambassadors Programme - known as GAP - paid for by students.
But it was the college providing the services while Yasmin's Sarwar's companies were being paid huge sums.
Mr Cotter said: 'The two 'Ayass' companies set up by Yasmin were used by her as a fraudulent mechanism to siphon off huge sums of money from the charitable company and into her own hands and away from Nadeem as, by this stage, their relationship had turned sour.'
The court heard the finances were questioned after the college employed new Head of Pastoral Services Gareth Collier in September 2015.
Mr Collier, who identified a 'culture of fear,' became suspicious about the college's finances after approaching Nadeem Sarwar about expenses for an overseas trip.
Mr Cotter said: 'Following an overseas trip Mr Collier approached Nadeem with regards his expenses incurred on the trip and was told to 'take what he needed' from a brown paper bag filled with cash.
'Mr Collier also noticed bank statements in Nadeem's office which recorded £25,000 payments with the reference 'Naz Agents Commission'.'
The court heard Mr Collier approached Yasmin Sarwar to raise his concerns before she immediately tried to blame her husband for 'taking money out of the college.'
Mr Cotter said: 'The response of Yasmin, in openly blaming Nadeem when confronted, is consistent with her attitude to the allegations in this trial - where she continues to blame Nadeem for everything and denies any responsibility herself.'
The court heard the college came under further scrutiny when it was late submitting financial statements for the year ending August 2014.
Staff were told the Charity Commission would be carrying out a visit to inspect their books and records in 2016.
But Mrs Sarwar then told finance assistant Hindia Ahmed to take two weeks annual leave during their inspection.
Mr Cotter said: 'Hindia Ahmed's role meant she would have been of assistance to the Charity Commission in carrying out their inspection.
'However, she had previously questioned Yasmin, Nadeem and Ragu Sivapalan as to £1.8m of funds that appeared to her to be missing from the college bank accounts.'
The court heard Yasmin later called for Hindia Ahmed to sign a 'non-disclosure agreement' which she referred to as a 'gagging order' in an attempt to silence her.
The court heard the Sarwars set up a board of 11 trustees including respected teacher John Price-Thomas, his wife Carol and later their son Huw.
But four of the other trustees were related to the Sarwars including Nadeem Sarwar's sister, his cousins and Yasmin Sarwar's sister.
Mr Cotter said 'financial decisions were not being made by the trustees' but were instead being made by the Sarwars 'including the setting of their very substantial salaries.'
Mr Cotter said trustees John and Carol Price-Thomas were 'well meaning' but did not 'fully grasp their responsibilities' or hold the Sarwars to account.
The court heard the Sarwars announced they wanted to convert the college into a private business in 2013 and would no longer need trustees.
Mr Price-Thomas, his wife and son resigned to allow for the change from charitable status - but the private business was never set up and new trustees were recruited.
Mr Cotter said the Sarwars asked school mum Nabeela Sheik to be a trustee even though they were told she had 'poor spoken English and could not read or write well in English either.'
The court heard Mrs Sarwar said she was have to 'just sit there' when she attended the meetings.
Mr Cotter said: 'Her first language is Urdu and she speaks little English. She had no understanding of what she was being asked to do as a trustee.
'She attended a few meetings during her two years as a trustee, understood nothing of what was being spoken about and was never asked to vote on anything.'
The court heard minutes from trustees meetings were 'fabricated' when referring to Yasmin and Nadeem Sarwar's salaries, the process of replacing trustees and annual reports and financial statements.
Mr Cotter said investigators found Yasmin Sarwar transferred over £1.1m of college money to her mother's account in Malaysia.
Mr Cotter said Mrs Sarwar also bought a £1.1m house in Cardiff, falsely made claims for rent on other properties she claimed were being used by the college and stole money to carry out renovations.
Accountant Sivapalan, of Penylan, Cardiff, pleaded guilty to causing an auditor's report on a company's annual accounts to include misleading, false or deceptive information between January 2013 and July 2016.
Nadeem Sarwar admitted stealing £5m from Cardiff Sixth Form College between 19 February 2008 and 31 October 2016.
Yasmin Sarwar, 48, of Cyncoed, Cardiff, denies nine theft and fraud charges between 2008 and 2016 totalling more than £5m.
The college had more than 300 students on its register and attracts children from all around the world, including Albania and China.
The trial, due to last ten weeks, continues.