Sikh Youth UK boss Rajbinder Kaur, 55, stole nearly £50k and used it to pay debts

A debt-ridden thief stole almost £50,000 from her own good cause and used the cash to pay her bills. Rajbinder Kaur, 55, was involved in the running of Sikh Youth UK, which, Birmingham Crown Court heard, aimed to support young people and raise awareness around issues including grooming, bullying and drugs.

But the former bank worker transferred funds, amounting to almost £50,000, from its bank to her own account and paid off her personal debts and loans and sent money to others, including relatives. Today, Monday, September 16, she was convicted of six counts of theft and of trying to cover her tracks by providing false or misleading information to the Charity Commission.

Her brother Kaldip Singh Lehal, 43, was also convicted of knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information to the Charity Commission. Both used to live in Hamstead Road. SYUK was formed in 2016 and received donations from fundraising events including a sponsored winter sleepout and a football tournament both in 2018.

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Kaur had more than 50 personal bank accounts and, West Midlands Police said, made it as difficult as possible for the flow of stolen money to be tracked. An application was made to the Charity Commission in 2016 for SYUK to become a registered charity.

But when the Commission asked for further information no details were given so the application was closed. The siblings were both initially arrested in July 2019 and charged in September 2019.

Kaur was found to have been in ‘terrible debt’ and used the donated funds to pay for her own bills, including Sky TV and Severn Trent. She also bought concert tickets, items from Next, entered the Postcode Lottery and goods from Tesco.

Kaur was convicted of six counts of theft amounting to £47,927.61, money laundering, one count of knowingly or recklessly provide false or misleading information to the Charity Commission under Section 60 of the Charities Act 2011, following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.

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Supt Annie Miller, from West Midlands Police, said: “Kaur tried to portray herself as someone naïve about financial matters despite having worked in a bank. SYUK was clearly a means to fund her lifestyle and pay her debts off.

“But in the simplest of terms Kaur was stealing large amounts of money that had been donated by local people for good causes. This has been a very long and complex investigation into fraud, and we have worked closely with the Charity Commission to bring this pair to justice.” The siblings will be sentenced on Thursday, November 21.