AN ASIAN man prosecutors described as the "driving force and the instigator" of a pandemic PPE fraud, failed to appear for his sentencing on Wednesday (7), as his accomplice was jailed.
Craig Morris, 43, of Forest Drive, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison at Northampton Crown Court.
Jogesh Bhandari, 60, of Mitchell Drive, Loughborough, Leicestershire, did not attend. Judge William Harbage KC issued a bench warrant, and Bhandari is expected to be sentenced on October 16.
Bhandari told his counsel he had had a pacemaker fitted the previous week and was taking a "very extreme painkiller", which meant he could not travel to Northampton.
The judge said there was "no medical evidence" to properly explain his absence.
His wife, Meenakashi Bhandari, 58, a former pharmacist of the same address, did attend. She was given a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years, along with 250 hours of unpaid work and 15 days of rehabilitation activity.
Gloves that never existed
Bhandari and Morris were convicted at Leicester Crown Court in July of two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, and of concealing and transferring criminal property. Meenakashi was found guilty of concealing and transferring criminal property.
The court heard that the two men traded through a company called Banton. They claimed they could supply millions of boxes of nitrile gloves to buyers in the US and Germany, and sent contracts for equipment they did not have to US company Med18 and German firm MedTech.
Prosecutor Michael Bisgrove said the pair "pretended to be big players in the PPE market" at a time of desperate shortage during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Porsches, holidays and a new home
The court heard the proceeds were spent on luxury cars, goods, holidays and property. The Bhandaris also used some of the money to pay off family debt, and Morris bought a house.
Bhandari obtained and kept £1.75 million from the fraud. His wife laundered £960,000.
Bisgrove said Morris was "very much working for" Bhandari. The National Crime Agency (NCA) has previously said Morris received regular £5,000 payments from Bhandari until the two men fell out at the end of 2021.
According to the NCA, Bhandari worked with Frank Labruzzo, an attorney in the Louisiana Attorney General's Office. Labruzzo provided a fraudulent escrow service, a bank account that holds funds until agreed conditions are met.
The court heard that Labruzzo and another person involved have been convicted and sentenced in the US.
Sentencing, Judge Harbage said the pandemic was a time when everyone had to make sacrifices for the good of society. A few people, however, had sought to exploit it for their own gain.
"I'm satisfied Jogesh Bhandari and Craig Morris fall into that category," he said.
