Advertisement

Jailed: ex-stockbroker who stole charity cash donated to sick kids at Great Ormond Street Hospital

Akbar Siddiqi (left) pictured outside court: Tony Palmer
Akbar Siddiqi (left) pictured outside court: Tony Palmer

A former stockbroker has been jailed for a year after pocketing £7,500 raised to help sick children, while he was in charge of a Rotary Club charity skydive and dinner.

Akbar Siddiqi, 29, offered to organise the fundraising events in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital , going on the radio to promote the Tooting club’s charity endeavours.

But he was secretly spending the money on shopping, Tube travel, meals out and hotel stays. He withdrew £4,105 in cash, and even spent £638 of the charity funds on internet dating.

Siddiqi admitted fraud in January and was given a chance to get a job and start paying back the money, but admitted at Kingston crown court this week that he had failed.

Jailing him for a year, Judge Judith Coello told Siddiqi: “It was a mean, despicable and devious offence.

“You persuaded other members of the club to fundraise for charity, but unbeknownst to the other signatories and members you obtained a cash card for that account and took money destined for charitable purposes.”

The judge said the fraud had been “embarrassing” for the club, and that Siddiqi had made a “half-hearted attempt” to return the funds. She added: “No real effort was ever made to pay back the money and it was a classic case of avoiding what you had done.”

Siddiqi carried out the fraud between April 27, 2014, and August 3, 2015, after being made a signatory to the club’s charity fundraising bank account.

He proposed the skydive and a dinner at the exclusive Connaught Rooms in central London, helping to raise a total of £15,725 for Gosh. Prosecutor Alexander Boshell said Siddiqi took money for himself throughout the fundraising, then stopped attending the club once the events were over.

Club president Len Saker told the court members felt “cheated” and had suffered “a great deal of distress” when they realised the money was missing.

“My initial reaction was amazement and confusion,” he said. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Akbar had been a trusted member of the club.”

Gudrun Fama, mitigating, told the court Siddiqi, of Thornton Heath, was a “troubled young man”, adding: “He was an alcoholic and did take the money during a difficult time in his private life … he no longer drinks.”

everely disrupting air and train services in the popular tourist destination.