india

Updated: Sep 30, 2019 21:31 IST

Three money launderers – including an Indian-origin man – who pocketed a share of a £1 million ‘rare earth’ metal scam have been jailed by a British court following an investigation by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The three --- Tarun Jain, 50, Ike Obiamiwe, 56 and Daniel Jordan, 36 --- have been jailed by the Kingston Crown Court for three counts of money-laundering, the CPS said on Monday. Jain was sentenced to two years and four months in jail.

The three gave customers the opportunity to invest in baskets of valuable elements known as ‘rare earths’ when in reality the metal they were selling was almost worthless, charging between seven and 200 times the actual value of the metal.

The victims were asked to pay some of their investments into accounts owned by Jain, Obiamiwe and Jordan. Obiamiwe insisted that he was a consultant who gave advice to businesses and told investigators the money in his bank account had come from a trading company in Dubai.

However, the CPS said it was able to prove the £87,000 in his account was part of the proceeds of the fraud. Jain tried to deny his involvement by insisting the money had been put into an old business account, but the CPS were able to prove his role in this money laundering operation.

Libby Clark of the CPS, said: “These men tried to hide what they were doing through lies or multiple bank accounts, covering the fact they were actually laundering money that had been gained through an elaborate fraud.”