Punjab-origin trader faces 13-yr curbs for scam in UK
Tuesday, 01/12/2015
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LONDON: Britain’s finance officials have levied `9.45 crore (£945,277) fine and a 13-year bankruptcy restriction order on an Indianorigin trader for providing false and misleading information while entering into real estate agreements with clients.
Based in Walsall, West Midlands, Gurpreet Singh Chadda, 34, was investigated by a specialist team of the insolvency service for breaching the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) regulations relating to “sale and rent back” (SRB) agreements.
Chadda was the sole trader using the names “Red2Black Homes” and “B&L Homes”. The investigation uncovered that between July 2009 and January 2010, he induced property owners experiencing financial difficulties to enter into SRB agreements by providing them with false and misleading information and concealing his own personal gain.
An SRB agreement is one where a owner sells his house and then rents it back from the arranger to be able to carry on living in the property. Often people who sell their houses in this way are vulnerable as they are in financial difficulty and need to raise money to pay mortgage arrears and or avoid repossession of their houses.
The FCA fined Chadda £945,277 (`9.45 crore) and banned him from working in the financial services industry as a result of his significant failings. This was the largest ever FCA fine for a sole trader in a retail business.
In levying the fine, the FCA believed that Chadda received £695,277 (`6.95 crore) from arranging seven SRB agreements and incorporated this amount in the fine, official sources said here on Monday.
Commenting on the case official receiver of the public interest unit (North) Ken Beasley said: “Chadda’s actions were dishonest and he took advantage of vulnerable members of the public for personal gain. The length of the undertaking reflects the severe nature of the misconduct. The insolvency service will continue to bring action against those who pose a serious risk to customers and lenders alike.”
