Warrant issued for arrest of on-the-run former Poppies owner Ladak

He was due to surrender to police earlier this month
Imraan Ladak, pictured in 2011.Imraan Ladak, pictured in 2011.
Imraan Ladak, pictured in 2011.

The controversial former owner of Kettering Town FC is on-the-run after he failed to surrender to police to be jailed.

Imraan Ladak, who ran the Poppies from 2005 to 2013, was sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court and ordered to hand himself in to police in Milton Keynes by 4pm on October 7.

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But he didn't surrender and a warrant was issued for his arrest by the High Court in Birmingham.

The High Court told the Northants Telegraph that as of today (Friday) they had not been informed that Ladak, 42, had been apprehended.

Tipstaff, the enforcement officer for all orders made in the High Court, confirmed a warrant for Ladak's arrest had been issued but said they were unable to discuss enforcement activity. Thames Valley Police said they had been made aware of the warrant but couldn't comment further as it was a civil matter.

Ladak's public Facebook page has not been active since October 6 - the day before he was due to surrender.

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It's understood police have been provided with his passport details and a warrant forbidding him from leaving the country and that all airports, ports and the Eurotunnel are on high alert for his capture.

In a judgment His Honour Judge Rajeev Shetty said Ladak would serve six months behind bars at HMP Birmingham after breaching an order by making derogatory comments about former colleagues.

Ladak, whose reign at the Poppies almost saw the club go out of business after their ill-fated move to Nene Park, left medical recruitment firm Pertemps Medical Group (PMG) in 2018 with a settlement of more than £125,000, as well as a payment of almost £400,000 for his shares.

As part of his settlement he agreed not to say anything that would bring the firm into disrepute or make derogatory comments about it and its employees.

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But in 2019 he claimed he was owed £20,000 and made a series of accusations in an attempt to get more compensation, a High Court hearing previously heard, breaching the contract and pursuing a "campaign of harassment".

On TWO occasions a judge ordered him not to do so through an interim injunction - but a court found he breached the order by sending a series of emails and private messages on LinkedIn.

A previous court judgment revealed the nature of a number of accusations he had earlier made against PMG employees and directors.

He accused one former colleague of fraud and another of racism, saying emails were "more racist than Tommy Robinson".

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Ladak, who previously brought England legend Paul Gascoigne in as Poppies manager for 39 days before sacking him, signed off one email with: "Regards, that little brown guy you declared war on."

He claimed they had turned a blind eye to the defrauding of the NHS, that the Pertemps business was a “scam” and accused one director of being a "drunken pervert".

Ater PMG's lawyers sent a cease and desist letter Ladak sent an email to a director and addressed him as "Timmy Saville".

In another email to solicitors and stakeholders he said to one director: "Make sure your next job doesn’t need a CRB check.”

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Ladak, who previously featured in a Sunday Times Rich List, insisted that his allegations were true and that his only interest was in exposing and stopping a significant fraud on the NHS, a court previously heard.

But a judge previously said Ladak had "wholly failed" to persuade him that papers served disclosed evidence of fraud, racism or sexual impropriety

Ladak, who was declared bankrupt on August 25, was ordered to pay PMG £70,000 in costs from the contempt applications. He is currently listed on Companies House as the chief executive of Milton Keynes-based OOH Medical.

Anybody knowing of Ladak's whereabouts should call police on 101.

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