A Coventry man who helped his sister steal more than £50,000 from a charity has been spared jail. Kaldip Singh Lehal lied to The Charity Commission when their organisation, Sikh Youth UK, came under investigation.
Sister Rajbinder Kaur used funds donated to Sikh Youth UK to pay off her personal expenses, as she was in considerable debt and living a lifestyle she could not afford. She then disguised the money trail by transferrin g sums between her 50 bank accounts, West Midlands Police said.
Siblings Kaur, 55, and 44-year-old Singh Lehal also lied to The Charity Commission when their organisation was investigated. Both were sentenced yesterday (Thursday, January 9), reports BirminghamLive.
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Protesters demonstrated at Birmingham Crown Court, claiming the case was a ‘witch hunt’ against Singh Lehal. Kaur of Taverners Green, Handsworth Wood, was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, having been found guilty of six counts of theft, one count of money laundering, and another offence of supplying false information to The Charity Commission.
Protestors at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, January 9
(Image: Reach)
Kaur broke down in tears and repeated: ‘God is my witness’ as she was led out of Birmingham Crown Court. Judge Dean Kershaw had told her: “You were in incredible personal debt, it seems all of your own making.”
He added: “You agree you relied on money from the organisation to pay for your mortgage and repay your credit cards. Money people had donated for good reasons, not to fund your badly organised lifestyle. You should be utterly ashamed.”
Singh Lehal, who had previous convictions including for drug dealing, was criticised for his ‘arrogance’ for what Judge Kershaw concluded was an attempt to ‘intimidate’ prosecutor Tim Harrington following the guilty verdict in September 2024. But he credited him for turning his life around from past drug abuse, which included periods of jail time for dealing.
Judge Kershaw also stated that much of his work with Sikh Youth UK was ‘aimed at doing good’ only for it to ‘unravel’ when The Charity Commission began investigating. He said: “You aimed to frustrate The Charity Commission and put them off the scent because you knew what your sister was doing.”
Singh Lehal, of Davenport Road, Coventry, was sentenced to four months, suspended for 18 months, having only been found guilty of supplying false information to The Charity Commission. He was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and up to 30 days of rehabilitation activity, reports BirminghamLive.
Rajbinder Kaur (Left) and Kaldip Singh Lehal (Right)
(Image: West Midlands Police)
Kaur and Singh Lehal formed Sikh Youth UK in 2016 to support young people and raise awareness about social issues, including drugs, bullying, and grooming. Both had applied for the organisation to become a registered charity, but The Charity Commission closed the bid after failing to receive some of the information they had requested.
Judge Kershaw said he had ‘no doubt’ it was operating as a charity and had ‘extremely good aims.’ He stated both defendants played a significant part in running it, with Kaur handling the financial side and Singh Lehal involved in organising activities across the West Midlands.
However, there were no ‘proper accounts’ and only ‘limited and haphazard’ attempts from Kaur to keep financial records on scrawled pieces of paper, the jury heard. She oversaw a Barclays account and, between 2018 and 2019, stole around £48,000.
Defending Kaur, Scott Tuppen said ‘things started to unravel’ when Kaur was made redundant from her banking job in 2010. He added that the 55-year-old was remorseful, had suffered mental health problems, and described how she had broken down at the realisation ‘things had got on top of her.’
Singh Lehal, who is also known as Deepa Singh, was said to have changed from a ‘life of crime’ in relation to his previous drug supply convictions to a ‘life of activism and helping the community.’ Supporters claimed it was his political stance against UK and Indian ‘collusion’ that made him a target for prosecution.
In 2018, Singh Lehal was one of a number of Sikh activists whose home was raided, while in December 2023, he was detained at Gatwick Airport for questioning before being released.
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