Every penny cheated out of the taxman by a jailed millionaire former football club owner “will be recovered”

Sussex Police said they are determined to collect the £750,000 Azwar Majeed illegally siphoned off to fund his lavish lifestyle.

The 33-year-old former owner of Crawley Town Football Club was jailed for three-and-a-half years on Tuesday.

He pleaded guilty in January to cheating the revenue, contrary to common law, failure to keep sufficient accounting records and concealing criminal property, contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Speaking yesterday DI Steve Wilcox said he hoped all the money would be recovered before Majeed was released from jail.

He said: "There is certainly more money out there. Now that Mr Majeed has been sentenced we can move forward on to the confiscation investigation.

“We will go through all his accounts and discover where the money has gone.”

Majeed, of Princes House, North Street, Brighton, splashed out more than £1million on luxury cars, motorbikes, stereo equipment and properties with the money.

He was the sole director of an alcohol wholesale business, SA Retail Limited, off licences and bars in Brighton and Crawley.

Southwark Crown Court was told during the hearing how officers from the Metropolitan Police's Money Laundering Team searched a safe deposit box in October 2006 belonging to Majeed in Knightsbridge, London.

They seized cash that was concealed in two holdalls which totalled about £500,000.

A confiscation hearing will take place on September 4, but DI Willcox said the police investigation could take up to two years.

He said: "We will go through all his accounts and discover where the money has gone.

"We hope to discover all his criminal assets and criminal property and recover those and put them back into the public purse."

Majeed resigned as Crawley Town chairman in August 2006, two months after the West Sussex club went into administration.

It was moved out of administration the same month and bought by Prospect Estates Holdings in 2008.

In the three years Majeed and his brother Chas owned the club attendances were reported to have halved.