A DUDLEY man who transferred huge sums gained from crime through his money exchange business to India has been locked up for a year.

Investigators discovered a number of Paramijit Singh Sangha’s customers used a Black Country pub as their home address while many thousands of pounds were being sent abroad.

Judge Nicholas Webb told the 53-year-old businessman he should have spotted the irregularities because it was apparent money was from the proceeds of crime.

He said Sangha failed to keep proper records for the business he ran from his home and he had clearly failed to detect the suspicious behaviour of his customers.

The judge added it was vital the government and the Revenue were kept in the picture regarding money being sent out of the country.

Sangha, he ruled, had broken the trust that had been placed in him for personal gain adding: “Your offending was deliberate and prolonged and it came after you had been warned.”

The businessman, of Spring Parklands, admitted four charges of failing to comply with money laundering regulations Rupert Jones prosecuting said Sandgha started up PS Gold which was a money service bureau but he had been hit with two fines for his continuing failure to adhere to the strict rules regarding the operation.

He told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Sangha failed to check properly the identity of his customers and he failed to keep proper records.

He said 28 customers of the business sent out of the country nearly £400,000 and the total amount of money that had been handled by Sangha was just under £2,000,000.

Sangha, added Mr Jones, had also failed to determine the origin of much of the money that passed through his hands.

The court was told the father-of-one, a man of previous good character, had now tightened up things considerably to put the business on a much firmer footing.

The judge said Sangha had continued breaching regulations despite a number of visits by investigators.

There had been 953 customers and when the first 28 files were checked discrepancies were found while a further 925 files had not been scrutinized.

Colin Booker, assistant director of criminal investigation at HMRC, said: “HMRC officers visited Sangha on several occasions and advised him that he needed to take more care. He chose to ignore us, which is why he found himself in court.”