Oh tuhaadi! Did anyone hear of this?
JP locked up in fraud case
Balbir Singh SandhuA disgraced Wolverhampton magistrate who offered to make a court case against a businessman “disappear” for £45,000 was today jailed for 18 months.
Balbir Singh Sandhu, who had presided over cases in the city for six years, claimed the victim was facing an investigation into the alleged employment of illegal immigrants.
Sandhu, aged 62, of Merridale Road, Wolverhampton, told friend Balbir Singh Mann he could face a huge fine and even go to prison, Birmingham Crown Court heard today.
But sources told the Express & Star today there was no such investigation.
Mr Mann is a partner in Crown Polishing & Plating Services in Derry Street, Wolverhampton, which this afternoon declined to comment.
Mr Amjad Nawaz, prosecuting, said Sandhu told Mr Mann he had access to where official files were kept.
“He effectively said that he could make it disappear if he would pay him and his associates £45,000,” he said.
The pair met at Waitrose in Penn last February with an associate of Sandhu, named as Colin Jones.
But Mr Mann began recording phone conversations and eventually told police, who swooped on Sandhu as he arrived for another meeting in his Mercedes. In his car they found a document which said the file had been destroyed.
Sandhu was initially charged with blackmail but pleaded guilty to fraud.
Judge Robert Orme said the plot was “blatant, prolonged and manipulative”.
He said: “It looks very much like a good old-fashioned blackmail case. This is a grave case because it is a blatant abuse of a position of authority and trust.”
Mr Jas Mann, defending, said his stupidity had cost him everything.”
In police interview former Travel West Midlands bus driver Sandhu claimed he had wanted to teach the victim a lesson and would never have taken the money.
http://www.expressandstar.com/2008/03/18/j...-in-fraud-case/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1770
http://www.desixpress.co.uk/article.aspx?articleId=838