PUNJABI-ORIGIN CONMAN GETS 5-YR JAIL IN UK
Friday, 20/06/2014
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LONDON: A Punjabi-origin conman, who defrauded several members of the Indian community here of nearly 6 , 5 0 , 0 0 0 pounds (more than ` 6.5 crore) between 2006 and 2013 by promising help to buy property, has been jailed for five years.
Mortgage fraudster Jaspal Singh Juttla, 55, was sentenced at the Isle worth Crown Court for 26 counts of fraud after he pleaded guilty to the offences. He claimed to be a mortgage broker who promised big investment returns to his victims if they invested in his property schemes.
The police said Juttla would meet his clients, who were predominantly Indian and spoke little or no English, at various locations in London. Often, he would present official documentation such as letter-headed paper, invoices, receipts and agreements to his unsuspecting victims to disguise his elaborate scam.
Once the agreed amounts were handed over, contact would cease. On occasions, the victims contacted him to ask what was going on, but Juttla would claim that the deal still needed time and that his accountant was ill or on holiday.
“The largest single loss faithfully handed over to him was £100,130 (around ` 1 crore) by a Hindu pandit from a temple in Southall. A couple who did four jobs between them for 10 years to obtain £84,000 (nearly ` 85 lakh) to buy a property also lost their money,” the police said.
