Men jailed for laundering £2 million taken from University of Sussex

15 February 2013

Five men who attempted to launder, through a network of bank accounts, more than £2 million stolen from a university are beginning prison sentences.

The sentences are the culmination of an investigation by Sussex Police's Money Laundering Investigation Team and the East Midlands Regional Asset Recovery Team (RART). 

The money had been obtained when officials at the University of Sussex, who thought they were dealing with a legitimate Manchester construction firm which the university had chosen to carry out a redevelopment of student accommodation had been deceived by a forged invoice. 

That forged invoice instructed the university to pay money into bank accounts controlled by 37-year-old Gurdip Singh, formerly of Spencefield Lane, in Leicester.

Also involved in the crime were Singh's business partner Hamel Bakrania, 36, of Campbell Avenue, Leicester, 50-year-old Dennis Francis, of King Edward Road, Loughborough, Innocent Ohazurume, also aged 50, and from Martham Close, in London, and 43-year-old Andrew Wormstone, of Ashworth Road, Pontefract, in West Yorkshire.

In October 2010, the university made a payment to what was thought to be the Manchester construction firm, but in fact was paid into the account of a business set up by Singh, operating under the name Balecourt Ltd.

The offenders planned to transfer the money via several transactions of sums running into hundreds of thousands of pounds into other bank accounts in order to disguise its origin.

The Balecourt account was accessed by a number of the conspirators before the theft was discovered a few days after the payment had been made. The discovery was made by the RART, part of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU).

RART then notified and began working closely with Sussex Police, which led the subsequent investigation, codenamed Operation Theta.

The account was immediately frozen and almost all the money transferred out of the reach of the defendants, who had been able to access just £20,000.

Singh and Bakrania made repeated attempts to persuade the bank to release the funds, and telephone records showed frequent correspondence between them and Francis and Ohazurume. It is believed that another man, who has not been traced, was also involved in the plot.

Having failed to convince the bank that the cash was obtained legitimately, Singh and Bakrania enlisted Wormstone, a Leeds-based solicitor, who sent documents to the bank which purported to show that Singh and Bakrania were clients of his and that he was acting on their behalf in high value land deals. None of those deals existed.

Singh was arrested in November 2010 and a search of his home revealed documents and other evidence linking him to Bakrania, Francis, Ohazurume and Wormstone. All were subsequently arrested.

Singh, Bakrania, Francis, Wormstone and Ohuzurume were charged with arranging to launder the money stolen from the University.

Singh pleaded guilty to the charges on 4 December 2012, but his four co-accused denied having been involved in an arrangement to launder the money. They were tried at Leicester Crown Court and convicted earlier this month.  

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court for sentencing on Thursday and Friday (14 and 15 February), Singh received a sentence of three years and ten months for his part in the laundering.
 
He was then given a consecutive sentence of three years and nine months after admitting a number of offences relating to an unconnected fraudulent property investment scheme. He was also given a concurrent sentence of two years and eight months for pleading guilty to his involvement in the manufacture of counterfeit designer clothing items. Both these matters involve other defendants who have pleaded not guilty and are due to be tried later this year. None of these offences relate to Sussex.

Bakrania was jailed for three-and-a-half years, while Francis and Ohazurume were each sentenced to three years in prison.
 
Wormstone received a sentence of two-and-a-half years in prison and will now be struck off from practicing as a solicitor.

Detective Constable Nigel Tillings of Sussex Police investigated the offence, codenamed Operation Theta.

After sentencing, he said: "It has taken just over two years to complete this investigation and prosecution of this organized crime group.

"Offenders in these types of offences will always be looking for assistance from others in moving the stolen money and also to distance themselves from the offending.  If successful, then these people would have received payment for their part, but in this case they have been caught.

"Hopefully these sentences will act as a deterrent to others who may find themselves in a similar situation and make them ask the question 'Is it worth it?'"

Detective Inspector Nick Allwood, of the East Midlands Regional Asset Recovery Team, said: "These dishonest individuals were driven by greed and opportunity.  They were involved in a thoroughly-planned and highly-organised criminal operation at a nationwide level. I have no doubt that had the £2 million fraud not been identified and the stolen funds secured as quickly as it was it would have been transferred out of the country within days. This would have resulted in significant loss to Sussex University.

"The partnership of the East Midlands Regional Asset Recovery Team, Sussex Police and the Prosecution Team resulted in the offence being quickly identified and the offenders being brought to justice. We will continue to work closely with other law enforcement agencies to ensure such criminals are prosecuted including dishonest professionals who choose to assist them.

"Asset confiscation proceedings will now be pursued to ensure the benefit from this crime is recovered."