Company director jailed in wake of £3 million money laundering operation

Kuldip Badesha, also aged 46 and Singh’s wife, pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct in public office and has been sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment on a suspended basis.

Both defendants were prosecuted at Southwark Crown Court.

An investigation conducted by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) uncovered the fact that Singh was a company director for 12 firms, all of which are dormant. Badesha worked for HMRC’s compliance team. 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 HMRC for VAT purposes. Badesha created two fake HMRC letters, which enabled Singh to open up two personal bank accounts (with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander).

A bank account in the defendants’ joint names had a turnover of over £3 million. The account was solely used for money laundering, receiving credits ranging from hundreds of pounds through to thousands (and tens of thousands) of pounds.

Criminal enterprise

Kelly Matthews of the Crown Prosecution Service explained: “Singh used his position as a 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.” 

Matthews added: “His wife Badesha has abused her trusted senior position within HMRC by committing misconduct in public office. The work here of both HMRC and the Crown Prosecution Service has helped to see justice served against these two defendants.”

Further, Matthews noted: “Money laundering enriches dishonest individuals and funds their future conduct. It serves to undermine the UK’s economy and, therefore, is a form of criminality that affects all of us. The Crown Prosecution Service has commenced proceedings to recover these defendants’ criminal proceeds.”

Appalling breach of trustBen Rollins, head of anti-corruption at HMRC, stated: “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.” 

Rollins concluded: “We are absolutely committed to the highest level of integrity and will track down the minority who let us all down by falling short of those standards.”