Brother & Sister sentenced over £50k Theft from own Charity

A Birmingham brother and sister have been sentenced for fraud relating to donated charity funds.

Rajbinder Kaur was convicted of money laundering and six counts of theft amounting to £50,000 and one count under Section 60 of the Charities Act 2011 – knowingly or recklessly provide false or misleading information to the Charity Commission.

Her brother Kaldip Singh Lehal was also convicted for knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information to the Charity Commission.

The siblings were initially arrested in July 2019 and subsequently charged in September of that year.

Kaur and Lehal ran an organisation called Sikh Youth UK (SYUK), which was formed in 2016.

An application was made to the Charity Commission for SYUK to become a registered charity.

The application was closed after Kaur failed to provide the necessary information. However, she and her brother continued to run fundraising events as if SYUK was a legitimate charity.

SYUK received countless donations during these events, including a sponsored winter sleepout and a football tournament in 2018.

Former bank worker Kaur transferred money from the SYUK bank account to her own account to pay off debts and send money to family members.

She had over 50 bank accounts in an attempt to disguise the flow of stolen money.

Kaur was jailed for two years and eight months.

Lehal received a four-month sentence, suspended for 18 months. He must complete 80 hours of community service.

After sentencing, Superintendent Annie Miller, of West Midlands Police, said:

“Kaur tried to portray herself as someone naïve 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.

“This has been a very long and complex investigation into fraud, and we have worked closely with the Charity Commission to bring this pair to justice.”

Tim Hopkins, from the Charity Commission, added:

“The siblings’ convictions for providing false or misleading information to the Charity Commission highlights how seriously the courts take the offence.

“In working together, the commission and the police were able to effectively deliver justice, as well as uphold public trust in charitable giving.”