Drugs company boss behind £2m scam ordered to repay just £1

glasgow
A drugs company boss who swindled almost £2million by moving cash around ‘like a chess game’ has been told to repay £1 – or face six months in jail.
Lister Pharmaceuticals director Baljit Brad, 53, submitted £3.1million worth of bogus pharmaceutical invoices to HSBC in a bid to save his crumbling business empire.
Brad was jailed for three years and eight months after carrying out the biggest ever fraud suffered by HSBC Invoice Finance (HSBCIF).
By the time his scam was discovered it was too late for HSBCIF to recover all of the money, resulting in a net loss of £1.8m.
Brad was ordered to repay a nominal sum at Southwark Crown Court today (tues) after it was found he has no assets left despite profiting to the tune of more than £1.8million.
Judge Joanna Korner confirmed the order and told the court that Brad must spend a further six months in jail if he somehow fails to repay the £1.
Brad – who was described as ‘a man without anything’ – was not brought from prison to today’s hearing
He had signed a ‘factoring’ agreement in 2012 by which HSBCIF would buy debts owed to his Enfield-based firm to provide the failing business with much-needed cashflow.
HSBCIF notified Brad’s clients about the agreement because of concerns over two of his businesses which were put into administration in March 2013.
Brad then broke down and admitted around £2m worth of invoices were ‘not right’, and that money had been transferred into Clydesdale Bank, which was outside the terms of agreement.
He phoned HSBCIF on 21 March 2013 to confess: ‘No goods were delivered but we have diverted the cash through Clydesdale [Bank].’
When asked what had happened to the money he replied: ‘I have not taken it, it’s gone to paying bills.’
Brad had forged invoices and proof of delivery for large batches of medication from Sigma Pharmaceuticals, CST Pharma, Chelmack Ltd and Arrowledge, bringing the ‘wholly innocent’ companies under suspicion from HSBCIF and the police.
An investigation revealed that Brad was solely responsible for the fraud, having claimed money for invoices that the other companies were never aware of.
Brad admitted four charges of fraud and when sentenced earlier this year he leaned on the glass in the dock and hung his head.
Prosecutor James Thacker said: ‘Baljit Brad defrauded HSBC Invoice Finance by notifying them of fictitious invoices and subsequently entering them on the factored ledger in order to receive payment.
‘This fraud represents the biggest ever loss suffered by HSBCIF.’
He continued: ‘The defendant admitted the fraud and said for a period of seven months he had been using the prior payment due from the finance facility to pay the ledger back, essentially moving the money like a chess board.’
He added: ‘The defendant abused his power and his responsibility in his capacity as a company director at Lister towards HSBCIF.
‘The offences may not have been the most sophisticated but there was a high degree of planning involved which was conducted over a sustained period of time, namely October 2012 to February 2013.
‘The defendant also used other businesses in an attempt to mask his fraudulent behaviour.
‘Those businesses have had to expend time and effort in satisfying HSBCIF and the authorities that this was a fraud solely at the hands of the defendant.’
Gary Bell QC, defending at an earlier hearing, said Brad was ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ and claimed he only used the money to try to sustain his failing businesses where he was responsible for 140 workers.
‘He built himself an empire, a small empire, he dedicated himself to building up those businesses,’ said Mr Bell.
‘It all got out of hand, he found himself in terrible cashflow difficulties.’
He continued: ‘And now he’s a criminal, he is bankrupt, he has nowhere to live.
‘He feels ashamed of his actions, ashamed that people have lost money as a result of his actions.
‘He is fully aware that there is nobody to blame but himself.’
Brad, of Burnside Road, Giffnock, Glasgow, must repay just £1 of his £1,844,256.77 profit within three months or face an additional six months in jail.
He is already disqualified from being a company director until 2024.
ends