Shopkeeper in £600k migrant scam gets 9 years
A FRAUDSTER banked nearly £600,000 by duping the Home Office into allowing 188 ‘religious workers’ into the UK illegally.
Shopkeeper Malkeet Singh Rathod, 48, was jailed for nine years yesterday after a judge told him his five-year deception undermined the public’s trust in the immigration system.
Rathod, 48, charged people thousands of pounds for acting as their licensed sponsor to gain them entry into the UK from India, posing as religious workers who were needed in the Sikh community.
But a jury heard many of those who came to Britain through Rathod found there was no work when they got here.
Father- of-three Rathod, of Birkinshaw, Bradford, was convicted of fraud by misrep- resentation and five charges of money laundering following a trial lasting more than 11 weeks at Leeds Crown Court.
Jailing him, Judge Christopher Batty said: ‘This was a fraud that goes to the very heart of the immigration system in this country.
‘The sponsorship system is based on trust, and the conduct of people like you undermines the confidence the public has in that system. It raises suspicion against those who have come to this country legitimately and those who provide a genuine service to citizens of this country.’
Judge Batty said the immigrants who were admitted through Rathod’s fraud had access to public services they would not otherwise have been entitled to. People can come to the UK on a visa specifically for carrying out religious work, but must have a sponsor. They can then legally live and work in the UK for two years.
Rathod came to the UK as a religious migrant in 1999 and after initially obtaining leave to remain as a member of a religious order, he became a naturalised citizen in 2007.
Judge Batty said: ‘It is clear from that time you saw an opportunity to do this on a much larger scale involving a
‘You sensed the rich rewards’
large number of migrants, sensing the rich rewards you could reap from it.’
Rathod set up two charities, Guru Nanak Mission UK and Sri Guru Nanak Jot Parkash Sikh Society, using them to bring Indian nationals into the country after charging them thousands of pounds for visas and other bogus documents.
Police found that £594,000 had passed through his bank accounts or those of his wife and his sister-in-law.
His wife Manpreet Rathod, 44, was convicted of money laundering and sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months.
His sister-in-law Saroj Kaur, 44, was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months.