"She knew she wasn't entitled to that money"
Birmingham Crown Court heard that a woman stole nearly £50,000 from her own charity to fund her lifestyle.
Rajbinder Kaur was in “terrible debt” and used the donated funds to pay her bills, including Sky TV and Severn Trent.
She allegedly spent the money on concert tickets, Next, the Postcode Lottery, and Tesco.
Kaur is also said to have transferred sums to relatives.
Kaur denies six counts of theft amounting to £47,927.61 and one offence of money laundering.
She and her brother Kaldip Singh Lehal – who were both said to be directors at Sikh Youth UK – have also pleaded not guilty to supplying false information to The Charity Commission.
Prosecutor Tim Harrington said Sikh Youth UK was a charity which aimed to support young people and raise awareness around issues including grooming, bullying and drugs.
He said: “Unfortunately for those who were generously donating one of the people who was running it, Rajbinder Kaur, was a thief.
“Instead of paying the money she collected through Sikh Youth’s bank account to spend on charitable causes and good causes, she stole the money.”
In 2018, Kaur “spirited” the charity’s money away by transferring large sums to one of her own 56 bank accounts.
Later, she allegedly told police that Barclays had advised her not to keep money in the charity’s account.
Mr Harrington called the claim “nonsense” and said large amounts of money were also withdrawn as cash.
He continued: “Her case is she wasn’t being dishonest. There seems to be an admission she spent money on some things she shouldn’t have been.
“It may be claimed she wasn’t being dishonest and was just leading a chaotic life.
“One of the reasons why she was stealing money, she had a large number of debts.
“She couldn’t afford her lifestyle. She had taken out loans, had credit card debts.”
Kaur allegedly stole approximately £30,000 raised through Just Giving, which was meant to pay for three support workers.
However, she was accused of transferring some of it to her sister, making payments to her own personal credit cards and loans as well as spending it at Next, Marks and Spencer’s, Sky TV and EE.
Mr Harrington said: “Do you think the person who donated to the Just Giving page expected to be paying for credit cards bills, her Next directory catalogue?
“Do you think she was being honest? She knew she wasn’t entitled to that money and was using it to pay her bills.”
Over £2,700 raised from a Vaisakhi event was stolen to pay for Kaur’s Severn Trent water bill as well as her electric and gas bills.
It was also alleged she used the money for her mortgage, to pay parking fees, solicitors fees, her AA membership as well as spending £10 on the Postcode Lottery.
The court heard Kaur misspent around £10,000 worth of donations for an annual football tournament, which was supposed to be for things like a bouncy castle and St John Ambulance.
The latter organisation said it never received the owed money. Meanwhile, Kaur used it for things like concert tickets.
Mr Harrington stated that in an act of “blatant dishonesty”, Kaur and her brother Singh Lehal sent an email lying to The Charity Commission when the organisation began investigating Sikh Youth UK.
On her CV, Kaur described herself as “reliable, hard-working and trustworthy” and had worked in banking between 2001 and 2010.
Mr Harrington added: “In essence when you hear all of the evidence you may form the view both defendants are thoroughly dishonest.
“What they were doing was on one hand charity work, organising differing things for good causes, but making money from donations, people giving for good causes.
“Rajbinder Kaur was moving money around, stealing it, living off it.”
“Messages from her phone show she was in terrible debt.
“She was speaking to family members, trying to move money around and get money off them.
“You might say she was robbing Peter to pay Paul. She was in debt, needed money and couldn’t afford her lifestyle. It may be why she stole this money but steal it she did.”
The trial continues.
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