An ex-compliance officer with HM Revenue and Customs was given a suspended sentence for her role in a £3m money laundering operation carried out by her husband.
In a statement on 27 November, the Crown Prosecution Service said Ranbir Singh, 46, pleaded guilty to two counts of money laundering and has been sentenced to six years imprisonment.
Kuldip Badesha, 46, Singh’s wife, pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct in public office and has been sentenced to 14 months imprisonment suspended. Both defendants were dealt with at Southwark Crown Court.
The HMRC investigation uncovered that Singh was a company director to 12 firms, all of which are dormant.
Badesha worked for the HMRC compliance team and she registered the 12 firms with Companies House and did work for them, but failed to declare this to HMRC as a potential conflict of interest.
None of the companies were registered with the HMRC for VAT purposes. She created two fake HMRC letters which enabled Singh to open up two personal bank accounts with Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander.
A bank account in the defendants’ joint names had a turnover of over £3m. The account was solely used for money laundering, receiving credits ranging from hundreds of pounds through to thousands and tens of thousands of pounds.
Kelly Matthews of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Singh used his position as company director to launder money from business accounts to personal accounts for his own gain. The investigation uncovered this criminal enterprise amounted to around £3 million in turnover.
“While his wife Badesha has abused her trusted senior position within HMRC by committing misconduct in public office.
“The work here of HMRC and the CPS has helped to see justice served against these two defendants.
“Money-laundering enriches dishonest individuals and funds their future conduct. It serves to undermine the United Kingdom economy and therefore a crime that affects all of us.
“The CPS has commenced proceedings to recover these defendants’ criminal proceeds.”
Ben Rollins, head of anti-corruption, HMRC, said: “This was an appalling breach of trust from Kuldip Badesha. She abused her position to help her husband launder millions of pounds. Money laundering allows criminals to profit from the misery they inflict on their victims and often funds even more serious crimes.
“We are absolutely committed to the highest level of integrity and will track down the tiny minority who let us all down by falling short of those standards.”
