A pair of siblings have been sentenced for their parts in a £50,000 charity fraud and for lying to the Charity Commission.
At Birmingham Crown Court yesterday, Rajbinder Kaur was jailed for two years and eight months for money laundering and six counts of theft relating to funds that had been donated to Sikh Youth UK, a charity she and her brother had founded.
Kaur, 55 and from Handsworth, Birmingham, was also found guilty in November of knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information to the Charity Commission, in an attempt to cover up the theft.
Her brother, Khaldip Singh Lehal, 43 and from Handsworth, had also been found guilty of the latter offence and was given a four-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 80 hours of unpaid work.
Kaur and Lehal founded Sikh Youth in 2016, applying to be a registered charity in the same year.
Sikh Youth UK received donations during fundraising events including a sponsored winter sleep out and a football tournament, both in 2018.
Kaur, a former bank employee, would transfer funds from SYUK’s bank to her own account and then pay off her personal debts and loans, as well as sending money to others including family members.
Kaur used more than 50 personal bank accounts to transfer money.
The Charity Commission launched a statutory inquiry into funds held by, and raised in connection with, Sikh Youth UK in October 2018, after West Midlands Police passed on concerns relating to charitable funds raised in the name of the organisation.
The siblings were arrested in July 2019 and charged in September.
Tim Hopkins, deputy director for specialist investigations and standards at the Charity Commission, said: “We welcome the strong message given today that the theft of charity funds for personal gain will not be tolerated by the courts.
“Additionally, both siblings’ criminal convictions for providing false or misleading information to the Charity Commission highlights how seriously the courts take the offence.
“We have worked closely with the police on this case to make sure that these actions did not go unpunished.
“In working together, the commission and the police were able to effectively deliver justice, as well as uphold public trust in charitable giving.”