A HAYES man was jailed for money laundering this week after being caught with £166,000 of dirty money.

Gurbax Singh, 46, of Yeading Fork, used his alcohol wholesale businesses - Phoenix Wholesale Trading Ltd (PWT Ltd) in Ilford and UKK Wines Ltd in Romford - to trade in non-UK duty paid alcohol, while his accomplice James Meekings acted as a cash courier to clean up the money.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) found £100,000 hidden in Singh’s wardrobe and £50,000 in the spare tyre compartment in his vehicle.

David Margree, assistant director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, said: “Singh and Meekings received substantial amounts of cash which they knew were the profits from crime.

“They had no regard that they were stealing from the taxpayer and depriving the nation’s finances of money needed to fund public services.”

Singh was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Tuesday, after being found guilty of money laundering offences in April.

He was arrested in June 2014 after HMRC officers observed him leaving a cash and carry in Croydon carrying a box and a black bag containing £16,000 in cash.

Meekings, 36, was arrested as he left UKK Wines Ltd with a black holdall containing almost £50,000 in cash.

Officers also found £4,165 in the glove box of his car and £4,800 in a plastic container of protein powder at his Essex home.   

Meekings, of Gordon Road, Horndon on the Hill, was also found guilty of money laundering offences and this week sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 250 hours unpaid work.

Image courtesy of HMRC, with thanks