7 jailed for more than 30 years for money laundering

Zulfiqar Ali of Harbourne, Birmingham was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Ali's role was as a cash courier and occasional gambler to aid and launder money. Harbinder Singh Sandhu of Derbyshire was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Sandhu's role was as a cash courier to aid the money laundering operation. Harvinder Singh Batth of Staffordshire was sentenced to a total of nine years in prison. Six years for Conspiracy to Cheat and three years for Conspiracy to Launder Money to run consecutively. He was disqualified from being a company director for 15 years. Batth was a principal player in the VAT fraud and money laundering racket. He was the Chairman of a company, Anisha Brokers, which was used to divert the proceeds of the VAT fraud. Jasbinder Singh Bedesha of Dubai Marina, Dubai, was sentenced to eight years in prison. Bedesha was a principal player in the VAT fraud and money laundering racket. He named a company of which he was President, after his daughter, Anisha Brokers and used it to divert the proceeds of the VAT fraud. Sukhjinder Singh Shergill of Walsall, was sentenced to a total of seven and a half years in prison. Four and half years for Conspiracy to Cheat and three years for Conspiracy to Launder Money to run consecutively. He was disqualified from being a company director for 15 years. Shergill was involved in the VAT fraud and acted as a 'banker' by administering the cash deposit scheme. Suckjit Singh Birring of Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for Conspiracy to Launder Money. Birring acted as a gambler and courier and for the money laundering activities. Jatinder Singh Salh of Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for Conspiracy to Launder Money.
HMRC investigation officers uncovered the sophisticated plot, codenamed Operation Elemi 2, following a complex investigation. Their trail showed the defendants received the proceeds of crime in the UK. They acted as couriers to launder hundreds of thousands of pounds by exploiting the gambling industry. During the course of both trials the court heard that money would be placed on deposit at casinos and withdrawn a day or so later. Other sums would be gambled. Thousands of pounds would be passed over the tables in order to disguise the original source of the banknotes. Monies gambled or exchanged at the casino provided the defendants with an apparently legitimate explanation as to their source. In raids carried out across the West Midlands by HMRC investigation officers seized a total of £350,000. Around £200,000 was found in a residential property stashed in two holdalls and a further £150,000 was found stuffed in a Harrods carrier bag in a vehicle. The cash was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and been reclaimed for the public purse. Some of the money was about or in the process of being laundered and some had just been laundered. Forensic testing of the bank notes showed they were highly contaminated with heroin and cannabis. The results indicate such large amounts of cash could only become so polluted if they had been in contact with items or people significantly contaminated with drugs shortly before their seizure. The cash was in fact drugs money. It has since been returned to the issuing banks, including the Bank of England and Bank of Scotland, for destruction due to the high level of drugs contamination.In a linked investigation that concluded in June 2008 codenamed Operation Elemi, five men from the West Midlands were sentenced to 30.5 years. The men were charged in relation to a substantial money laundering conspiracy, which also involved a £1.8 million VAT fraud, commonly known as a 'missing trader' fraud. Some of the defendants also diverted £1.8 million of VAT in just one month in 2005 through their dishonest trade in mobile phones through a chain of contrived transactions. This money was transferred to Dubai which enabled the money laundering scheme. RCPO is an independent prosecuting authority and is responsible for the prosecution of all HMRC cases in England and Wales.