A fraudster has been jailed for his involvement in a scheme that scammed medical companies out of millions of pounds through bogus personal protective equipment (PPE) deals during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Craig Morris, 43, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison at Northampton Crown Court on Wednesday. He and Jogesh Bhandari, 60, were convicted in July of two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, as well as concealing and transferring criminal property.
The court heard that Morris, of Forest Drive in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, and Bhandari bought luxury cars, holidays, and property after falsely claiming they could supply millions of boxes of nitrile gloves in the US and Germany. Prosecutor Michael Bisgrove stated that Bhandari was the "driving force and the instigator" while Morris was "very much working for him."
Jogesh Bhandari, of Mitchell Drive, Loughborough, Leicestershire, is expected to be sentenced on 16 October. His wife, former pharmacist Meenakashi Bhandari, 58, also of Mitchell Drive, was found guilty of concealing and transferring criminal property and received a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, along with 250 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity.
Judge William Harbage KC noted that the offences occurred during a time of desperate PPE shortage, with the offenders motivated by greed. The court heard that Jogesh Bhandari obtained and kept £1.75 million, and Meenakashi Bhandari laundered £960,000.