Glasgow businessman Israr Javid, 44, was jailed for five years in September 2011. Since then, investigators have been probing financial records in a bid to claw back money which should have gone to the taxman.

The lengthy process to strip Javid of his illegal profits ended at the High Court in Edinburgh, when advocate depute Barry Divers said Javid's crimes had netted him £4,245,135.

But the prosecutor asked the court to make a confiscation order for only £57,874, which he told the court represented the total of Javid's "realisable assets".

Although the Crown has been able to seize property in Glasgow and Irvine they had no equity value to add to the balance in Javid's bank account and cash seized at an earlier stage in proceedings and held by court officials.