BY PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
KULDIP Badesha, a former compliance officer at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has been spared jail after admitting to helping her ex-husband launder over £3 million.
Southwark Crown Court sentenced the 46-year-old to 14 months in prison, however the sentence was suspended. She was also ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work and five days of rehabilitation.
Badesha’s ex-husband, Ranbir Singh, also known as Ray Singh Rana, was sentenced to six years in prison for laundering £3.3 million between 2015 and 2018. The court heard that Singh’s scheme involved creating bogus companies with fake National Insurance numbers and forged HMRC documents.
Judge Adam Hiddleston acknowledged that Badesha “felt obliged” to assist Singh and made no financial gain from her actions. However, he described her misconduct as a serious breach of trust, stating, “You used your position of considerable trust at HMRC to lend legitimacy to false claims.”
HMRC’s anti-corruption unit arrested Badesha in 2018 after uncovering her role. Investigators found she had been living beyond her means, leasing a Bentley and taking long-haul holidays. She was dismissed from HMRC in 2019.
Ben Rollins, head of anti-corruption at HMRC, condemned her actions as “an appalling breach of trust.”
“She abused her position to help her husband launder millions of pounds,” he said..
‘Money laundering allows criminals to profit from the misery they inflict on their victims and often funds even more serious crimes.’
Singh, 46, of Birmingham, has a criminal history, including an 11-year sentence for kidnapping in 2008. His money laundering began while on day release and continued after his release in 2014.
Kelly Matthews of the Crown Prosecution Service said the work of officials in the HMRC and the CPS “helped to see justice served against these two defendants”.
She added that the CPS “has commenced proceedings to recover these defendants’ criminal proceeds”.
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