An accounts assistant has been jailed for four years after he fraudulently diverted almost £120,000 from a charity into an online bank account he set up in his mother’s name.
Jaswant Singh Kang, also known as Jake Kang and Jake Elliott, of Marina Close, Bournemouth, was convicted of two counts of fraud by false representation.
The 38-year-old was sentenced to four years in prison at Bournemouth Crown Court at the end of last month.
Kang was also handed a Serious Crime Prevention Order for five years, which will come into effect after his release.
He was employed as an accountant’s assistant at South Staffordshire Housing Association, a social landlord based in Stafford, between November 2018 and March 2019.
Kang changed the bank account details on a supplier’s account to divert £118,949 to an account he had set up online in the name of his mother.
To enable the fraud, he also altered remittance advice slips to include a different address, so that the supplier did not receive notification of the payment.
As a result, the fraud was not discovered until he left the organisation and the payments were then chased by the supplier.
By then Kang had moved to Bournemouth under an alias.
On the second count, Kang took out finance on an Audi A6 he purchased online in his mother’s name while residing in the West Midlands area, but failed to keep up the repayments.
The car was eventually recovered and sold at auction, but the finance company was left more than £10,000 out of pocket.
Kang pleaded guilty to both counts of fraud after he was arrested in May 2021.
DC Kelly Harvey of Staffordshire Police, said: “Over the time period in which the offences took place, Kang defrauded South Staffordshire Housing Association/Housing Plus Group, which is a charitable organisation providing homes and care services across Staffordshire and Shropshire.
“He stole public money in order to keep up the lifestyle standard that he had become accustomed to, which had a huge impact on the services that the company could deliver to the communities it supports.
“His offending behaviour shows that not even his own family were safe from his fraudulent activities.
“We are pleased with the court’s decision and hope that Kang uses this time to contemplate his actions and the financial and mental impact he has had on those he has targeted.”
The charity has not responded to a request for comment.