British Sikh brother-sister duo jailed for charity fraud in UK
Babushahi Bureau
Birmingham (UK), January 12, 2025: A brother and sister duo from Birmingham, linked to the Sikh Youth UK organization, have received sentences from a UK court after being convicted of fraudulent activities concerning charitable contributions.
As per The Week, Rajbinder Kaur, aged 55, was found guilty of money laundering, six counts of theft amounting to GBP 50,000, and one violation of Section 60 of the Charities Act 2011, which pertains to the provision of false or misleading information to the Charity Commission.
Kaldip Singh Lehal, aged 43 was similarly convicted on the same charge as his sister. Both Kaur and Lehal were involved in the Sikh Youth UK (SYUK) organization.On Thursday, Birmingham Crown Court sentenced Kaur to a term of two years and eight months in prison.
In contrast, Lehal was given a four-month sentence, which was suspended for 18 months, in addition to being required to complete 80 hours of community service.
Superintendent Annie Miller from West Midlands Police said in a statement that Kaur tried to portray herself as someone naive 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 local people for good causes,” she said.
The pair were initially arrested in July 2019 and subsequently charged in September 2019.