Trainee solicitor 'too busy for car clocking'

A?trainee solicitor alleged to be part of a car clocking ring told a jury she was 'too busy studying law' to be involved.

Karmjit Sohal, aged 24, is accused of allowing thousands of pounds to pass through her bank account to trade vehicles as part of a scam involving her brother Inderjit Singh Sohal and a cousin called Jatinder Sandher.

The racket involved vehicles being bought and sold days later with thousands of pounds added to the price and up to 144,000-miles removed from the odometer reading between December 2009 and February 2011.

But Mr John Evans, defending, told Wolverhampton Crown Court on the third day of the trial that similar amounts of money had gone through her account for up to two years before the alleged plot was hatched.

He asked Sohal if she knew what the transactions were being used for.

Sohal said: "These are not my transactions at all. I won't even know what they were used for. I did let him – Inderjit Singh Sohal – use my card but they are not my transactions.

"I was so busy at the time with university studies that I wouldn't have had the time to partake or have an interest in cars. All I was interested in was my future in law and making a life for myself."

The Keele University student said her brother would often use her card and pay her back later.

She said: "All I knew about him buying cars was that he was buying them from an auction and selling them for a small profit. He wanted to go into the business with cars but he was more interested working with my dad."

Mr Evans asked Sohal if she had any part in his car business. She replied: "No, nothing, no part whatsoever."

During the three-day-trial the jury heard how police officers seized £10,000 in cash in a raid on Karmjit Sohal's family home in Willenhall from inside a safe in the garage.

It came following a Trading Standards operation in Sandwell investigating the sale of clocked cars.

Four of the plotters in the racket Inderjit Singh Sohal, Jatinder Sandher and Sundeep and Pardeep Shinh have already pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors claim the operation was based at two business addresses – Enzo Motors, in Great Bridge Street, West Bromwich, and Netherton Motors, in Halesowen Road, Netherton.

Sohal of Sherlock Close, Willenhall denies two charges of conspiring with the four men to sell motor vehicles with false mileage and bogus service book entries.

She also pleads not guilty to one charge of converting criminal property. The trial continues.