"You arranged to dishonestly transfer those stolen funds"
An ‘immigration advisor’ was jailed for three years for stealing more than £51,000 from a Birmingham charity – potentially depriving more than 100 orphans of support.
Abdullah Saqlain used a dead man’s bank account and recruited two others to siphon funds from the charity Jamia Al Furqan in 2018.
He covered his tracks by using false payment references such as E.ON, Virgin and BT.
At one point, Saqlain pretended to be someone from the charity to call the bank and request a freeze on funds to be removed.
Prosecutor Matthew Brook said: “The charity’s aims are to promote teachings of Islam and provide a peaceful place of worship within its mosque in Birmingham and eliminate poverty in poor areas of Pakistan.”
Saqlain was given access to the charity’s bank accounts after providing immigration advice which “legally should not have been given”.
He transferred charity money into his own accounts as well as the account of a man who died in 2017.
Saqlain also recruited two other people to set up accounts and transfer funds to, one of whom was a woman with “very little command of English”.
In a statement, Jamia Al Furqan said the thefts hurt fundraising, particularly due to things said on social media.
It said the investigation also made it difficult for them to contact donors due to paperwork being seized. In total Saqlain stole £51,284.24.
The charity said the money could have paid for food, shelter and education for 135 orphans in Pakistan for three years.
Alternatively, it could have funded 74 water wells or 345 water pumps to provide clean water to thousands of people.
Saqlain admitted two charges of theft and two counts of money laundering.
Tony Montgomery, defending, admitted that “greed” drove Saqlain’s actions, with him never having been previously convicted of a crime.
He said Saqlain was remorseful and had shown a willingness to repay the stolen money.
Mr Montgomery added that Saqlain suffered the embarrassment of his neighbours seeing him being “carted away” by the police when he was arrested.
Mr Montgomery added: “It was greed and his stupidity that caused him to stray away from the path he had previously followed.”
Judge Heidi Kubik KC said: “You arranged to dishonestly transfer those stolen funds, firstly into your own bank accounts, into the bank account of a dead man to which you had access and you further recruited two others.
“You persuaded them to open fresh bank accounts in order for you to put stolen money through their bank accounts.”
“Their complicity or otherwise is not of great importance when considering your criminality.
“You were persistent in your offending.
“You impersonated the legitimate bank account holder in relation to the charity and provided a false document for the purposes of handing to the bank to try and unlock frozen funds.”
He was jailed for three years.
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