An ex-bank worker jailed for stealing charity donations from well-meaning members of the public pretended to be naive about finance in a bid to throw investigators off the scent of her £50,000 crimes. Rajbinder Kaur, 55, used Sikh Youth UK as a “means to fund her lifestyle and pay off her debts”, a senior West Midlands Police officer said after she was jailed yesterday, Thursday, January 9.
SYUK received countless donations during fundraising events, including a sponsored winter sleep-out and a football tournament, both in 2018. But Kaur – a former bank worker – would transfer funds from the SYUK to her own account and pay off her personal debts and loans as well as send money to others including relatives.
She had more than 50 personal bank accounts in an attempt to make it as complicated as possible to follow the flow of stolen money, the West Midlands force said. Her brother Kaldip Singh Lehal, 43, was handed a suspended sentence.
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Speaking after the sentencing hearing at Birmingham Crown Court, Supt Annie Miller, from West Midlands Police, said: “Kaur tried to portray herself as someone naïve about financial matters despite having worked in a bank. SYUK was clearly a means to fund her lifestyle and pay her debts off, but in the simplest of terms Kaur was stealing large amounts of money that had been donated by people for good causes.
“This has been a very long and complex investigation into fraud, and we have worked closely with the Charity Commission to bring this pair to justice.”
Kaur was convicted last September of money laundering and six counts of theft amounting to £50,000 and one count under Section 60 of the Charities Act 2011 – knowingly or recklessly provide false or misleading information to the Charity Commission. Lehal was also convicted of the latter charge.
She was sentenced to two years and eight months behind bars and Lehal was given a four-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, and 80 hours of community service.
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The pair, both formally of Hamstead Road, Handsworth Wood, were initially arrested in July 2019 and were charged that September. The trial at Birmingham Crown Court last year heard Kaur and Lehal ran Sikh Youth UK, which was formed in 2016.
An application was made in 2016 to the Charity Commission for SYUK to become a registered charity but the Commission’s request for further information was ignored so the charity application was closed.