Judge orders inquiry over illegal Oldbury tip owner's cash

The judge warned the probe could end in a significant jail sentence for Ranbir 'Nick' Singh.

The 44-year-old was back in Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday for a Proceeds of Crime hearing after being imprisoned for 18 months in January last year when he pleaded guilty to illegally stockpiling thousands of tons of refuse that he and his father had been paid to take to a landfill site.

Singh has now admitting receiving £846,000 benefit from the offence and his lifestyle during the six years before his conviction.

He must prove that cash and assets unearthed by forensic accountants studying his financial dealings over that period were either legally earned or are now no longer available to be seized.

The inquiry centres on £463,820 withdrawn from a firm called Oberon Recycling at various Black Country branches of Barclays Bank between October 28, 2013, and January 10, 2014 – days before he was jailed.

He set up the company on September 9 2013, was its sole shareholder and a director until November 26 of that year. He continued to be the signatory for the firm and the withdrawals were authorised by his signature.

Singh claims to have sold the business to another man for £1,000 on October 1 and to have remained on the payroll as a £250-a-week development consultant.

There was no mention of the withdrawals in an official statement of his financial affairs made in June this year and an explanation was only provided at the beginning of this week.

This has suggested the money paid customers through a third party for metal bought by Oberon Recycling which could not make direct cash payments.

No address was provided for the other firm supposedly involved and investigators have not traced it, the court heard.

Singh maintains he had not been asked for details of the transactions until recently and claims he was just an employee of Oberon Recycling moving the company's money. The prosecution believe this was a cover up.

Judge Walsh concluded: "Having regard to the consequences that would flow if there was a finding that these were hidden assets we require a much more structured and refined order identifying what it is that the defendant should supply to assist the court in making a proper determination."

So 'with very great reluctance but in the interest of justice' he adjourned the case until a later date for further inquiries to establish the truth of the situation. He warned that if it was found there were hidden assets it could result in a significant period of imprisonment.