Firm collapse costs man £70,000

Dullah Miah is now struggling to pay his mortgage

A Staffordshire waiter has lost £70,000 through the collapse of a money transfer company.

Dullah Miah, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, had remortgaged his home in order to raise funds to pay for the building of a home in his native Bangladesh.

He hoped it would help a poor relative and provide money to pay his mortgage.

But the money he arranged to send back to Bangladesh never reached there. First Money Transfer, which is in liquidation, says £1.7m is missing.

Directors said the east London-based company grew so fast that they "lost control" of their agents.

Suffering stress

The company, which is now in the hands of insolvency practitioners, stressed there was "no impropriety" involved.

Thousands of Bangladeshis have lost money in the collapse.

The Metropolitan Police and the government's Insolvency Services Department are investigating the company.

Mr Miah said he was now struggling to repay his mortgage and was worried about whether he would ever get his money back.

He said: "My doctor has given me stress-related medicine.

"When I think how much money I lose and what will happen, how can I ever pay the mortgage, how can I survive, I feel pain on my chest."