Wolverhampton businessman in £189k fraud jailed for over two years
A crooked businessman who cheated creditors of his failing company out of £189,000 by pocketing the money for himself, has been jailed for more than two years.
Guljinder Singh was the sole director of Goldline Express Ltd, which had a registered office in Fryers Road, Bloxwich, and provided agency staff for shelf stacking jobs and farm labour
The company had its bank account frozen by a restraint order on April 8 2009 and ceased trading on May 2 of that year owing over £225,000.
But shameless Singh syphoned off most of Goldline's money while knowing that it should have gone towards settling the firm's debts, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
The 50-year-old withdrew £189,000 with 11 cheques made out for cash in his name between June 1 and August 7 2011 after the company bank account was unfrozen as it prepared to be wound up. He deliberately left £942 untouched in the hope it would make the move look less suspicious.
The defendant claimed that around £95,000 of the money was repaid to family and friends who had allegedly loaned cash to him two years earlier to pay off wages owed to his workers.
Judge Barry Berlin dismissed this and rejected the evidence of several of those alleged to have made the loans. There was no documentation to support their claim.
He ruled: "I find those witnesses wholly incredible and that, without exception, they were lying. It beggars belief to suggest that they were so foolhardy as to hand over large amounts of cash without a guarantee of its return.
"I reject the defendant's supposed origin of the payments paid to his workers and reject the suggestion that £95,000 was repaid to these so called company creditors in 2011."
The judge said the workers payments were likely to have come from another, secret bank account linked to Singh.
He told the defendant from Enderby Road, Penn: "You defrauded creditors out of a vast amount of money for your own benefit and then tried to lie your way out of it. This was abuse of power, trust and responsibility together with significant planning with intent to enrich yourself."
Singh, who had two previous convictions for motoring offences, pleaded guilty to fraudulently removing money from Goldline's bank account and was jailed for two years eight months.
Insolvency Service Investigation Officer John Thorley said after the case: "He refused to provide verifiable information about what he had done with the more than £150,000 he withdrew from the company's bank account, funds that should have been shared amongst its creditors.
"Evidence was also produced at court to show he had attempted to pressure witnesses into giving false evidence. The prison sentence he has been given should be a warning to others that the Insolvency Service will take action against those who seek to break the law."
