Bankrupt landlord jailed after failing to declare £1,900 rental income
FORMER COUNCILLOR DESCRIBED AS ‘PROFOUNDLY FLAWED AND DISHONEST’
A FORMER councillor has been jailed after failing to disclose ownership of a rental property after he was made bankrupt. Sukhi Sanghera was described as a ‘profoundly flawed and dishonest man’ after receiving a monthly income of almost £2,000 despite being declared bankrupt.
Sanghera, 53, was made bankrupt in August 2017 by order of the County Court in Warwick, with debts of over £140,000. As such, his affairs were passed into the control of the Official Receiver, and he was obliged to disclose all his assets to officials.
As part of his bankruptcy, Sukhi Sanghera, also known as Sukhwinderjit Singh Sanghera or Sukhwinder Singh Sanghera, was obliged to disclose all his assets to the Official Receiver and his trustees, including property. However, he failed to disclose to either set of trustees that he was the sole owner of a rental property in Coventry which yielded a monthly rental income of £1,900.
Sanghera pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court last year to failing to disclose his ownership of a property in Walsgrave Road, Coventry, during bankruptcy proceedings. However, when he returned to the court, following a delay to his hearing, the former Conservative councillor was sent to prison for fraud.
Sanghera had been elected to Warwick District Council in May 2019, but in August of that year, he accepted a ten-year bankruptcy restrictions undertaking. As a result of that, he was disqualified from sitting as a councillor, and a by-election for the seat was held later that year.
Sanghera, of Lillington, Leamington Spa, appeared at Warwick Crown Court on October 27. He received 8-month sentences for four counts of bankruptcy offences contrary to the Insolvency Act 1986 and will serve them concurrently. Upon sentence, the judge commented that Sanghera was a “profoundly flawed and dishonest man... who showed a flagrant disregard for the law and authorities.”
Glenn Wicks, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: “At multiple points, Sukhi Sanghera had the opportunity to be honest and disclose to his trustees that he benefited from a rental property. Instead, Sukhi Sanghera went to great lengths to conceal the property in Coventry through fraud and deception to avoid paying his creditors what they were owed.
“The courts have recognised the severity of Sukhi Sanghera’s actions and his custodial sentence demonstrates the risks people take if they don’t declare all their assets when in a bankruptcy process.”