Banker's 'fake job' for money

A banker from Telford invented another job and claimed she earned up to £32,000 when she applied for a £125,000 loan, a court heard.

But Stafford Crown Court was told Jatinder Kaur Rana's claims on the mortgage application were false and her annual pay at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) never exceeded £16,600.

Mr Malcolm Morse, prosecuting, said: "Her mortgage application said she worked for JDM Plumbing and Building Services in Paddock Mount, Dawley, earning £32,000 a year with overtime and a bonus.

"But she worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland and had paid into her account £1,003 a month.

"She was not earning the sort of money her application was claiming."

He said 28-year-old Rana was one of six co-accused who went to the Mortgage Shop in Stoke-on-Trent "and what they were doing was borrowing money against a financial description that was simply untrue".

Mr Morse said: "Between early March 2005 and the end of March 2006 successful applications submitted to the Mortgage Shop were for £642,999. This was a modern form of money laundering.

"The business in Stoke-on-Trent was run by a man who is not before you.

"He provided mortgage introductions we say were bent; the applications were bogus. So long as a form goes to a lender with information in it and the borrower agrees with it then whose idea it was is neither here nor there."

Rana, of Trench Road, Trench, denies one charge under the Proceeds of Crime Act, in which she acquired a credit balance in her bank account of £125,000, while knowing or suspecting it to constitute a benefit from criminal conduct.

The other defendants, from Stoke-on-Trent and Essex, deny similar offences.

Mr Morse said: "Part of the truth with Rana is she worked for the RBS and knew something about the banking business.

"The question to ask is why a bank employee with settled employment in Telford was travelling to Stoke-on-Trent in order to get a mortgage application through the Mortgage Shop?"

The trial continues.

By Jon Ball