Man sentenced after two counts of fraud by false representation

A 38-year-old man from Bournemouth has been sentenced for two counts of fraud by false representation.

Jaswant Singh Kang, also known as Jake Kang and Jake Elliott, of Marina Close, was sentenced to four years in jail at Bournemouth Crown Court on October 26. Kang was also handed a Serious Crime Prevention Order for five years, which will come into effect after his release.

Between November 2018 and March 2019, Kang whilst employed as an accountant’s assistant at South Staffordshire Housing Association based in Stafford, changed bank account details on a suppliers account to divert money to a bank account he set up online and controlled in the name of his mother. This amounted to £118,949.66.

He also altered remittance advice slips to a different address in order to enable the fraud, so that the supplier did not receive notification of the payment. Due to this, the fraud was not discovered until he left the company, and the payments were chased by the supplier. He then moved to Bournemouth under an alias name.

On the second count, Kang took out finance on an Audi A6 he purchased online in his mother’s name whilst residing in the West Midlands area, and failed to keep up the repayments. The vehicle was eventually recovered by BMW Financial Services and sold on at auction. However, this left BMW finance at a loss of £10,750.82.

Kang was arrested in May 2021 and pleaded guilty to both counts at Bournemouth Crown Court in June 2021, for which he was then subsequently sentenced on October 26.

DC Kelly Harvey, of Staffordshire Police, said: “Over the time period in which the offences took place, Kang defrauded South Staffordshire Housing Association/Housing Plus Group, which is a charitable organisation providing homes and care services across Staffordshire and Shropshire.

“He stole public money in order to keep up the lifestyle standard that he had become accustomed to, which had a huge impact on the services that the company could deliver to the communities it supports. His offending behaviour shows that not even his own family were safe from his fraudulent activities.

“We are pleased with the court’s decision and hope that Kang uses this time to contemplate his actions and the financial and mental impact he has had on those he has targeted.”