Perth Businessman Imprisoned for Attempted $20 million Insurance Scam

A Perth businessman, Hossean Pourzand has been imprisoned for more than seven years for an attempted $20 million insurance scam that involved the deliberate burning down of a Welshpool factory.

Reports state that Pourzand owned the Pilbara Street property that was extensively damaged in March 2017 when one of his associates disguised himself, turned off the electricity to the building and used citronella-soaked cords to start the fire. It took the emergency crew six hours to contain the blaze. Pourzand claimed that he did not have the money to fund a refit of the warehouse, and came up with the plan to set it on fire and claim the insurance. He made the claim the very next day. If he had been successful, he would have received a about $8.5 million to $20 million.

However, his plan began to unravel after the police released an image from the CCTV footage of a man, the associate, they said they would like to speak to about the fire. Pourzand claimed throughout that he had nothing to do with the fire. The police also got hold of the secret recordings that the associate had made of the meetings with Pourzand in which they had discussed the arson plan. He then pleaded guilty to charges of attempted fraud and criminal damage by fire.

Justice Stephen Hall described Pourzand described him as 'very willing, involved and interested participant in the plan to set fire to the building'.