ECHO readers have branded the judicial system a "joke" after a man who stole up to £195,000 walked free from court.
Rais Kayani took £195,000 in government grants by pretending to run businesses, including a Greggs bakery. False applications were sent to a number of councils, including St Helens, Thurrock and Rochdale.
The councils were defrauded out of £35,000, £85,000 and £75,000 respectively, between May 4 and May 9, 2020. When making the applications to St Helens council, the fraudsters had impersonated high street bakery chain Greggs.
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A court heard that genuine business rate account numbers were used to support false applications for rate grants which were awarded by the local authority. Despite being unable to identify who submitted the applicants, an investigation found that payments were all transferred to the bank account of a company owned by 31-year-old Kayani.
Bank statements from that account show that £195,000 had been received from the three local authorities. And on 12 May 2020, £100,000 was transferred out to a US dollar account. On 13 May 2020, $47,500 was sent from the dollar account to an account in Hong Kong.
Kayani pleaded guilty previously to a single count of entering into a money laundering arrangement at Southwark Crown Court. He was given a 16 months jail term, suspended for 18 months .
The ECHO reported on the sentencing yesterday, and readers have slammed the judge's decision to not impose a custodial sentence. One user said: "Don’t know what’s worse, the lenient conviction or the fact that multiple councils don’t hesitate to give money to what they thought were a multimillion pound industry like Greggs while businesses up and down the high streets in those towns are closing."
Another commented: "This country is a laughing stock no wonder everyone's fleecing it! Suspended sentence if that was a person from Liverpool would of got jail."
A third said: "Suspended sentence! Has the judge lost his mind?" While another user replied: "Judiciary make me sick ...no wonder people do what they want ..because nine times out of ten they get away with it."
Another person added: "Hopefully they manage to take away any property he own to get some money back. Suspended sentence is a joke."
