Father and son ran Black Country car clocking con, court told
A father and son forged MOT certificates, vehicle service booklets and tampered with mileage clocks to give lower readings, a court heard.
Gurdip Sohal, aged 60, and Inderjit Sohal, 31, are alleged to have carried out the offences in the West Midlands and Staffordshire between September 2012 and December 2013, the opening day of their trial was told. Jaswinder Kaur, 62, the wife of Gurdip and mother of Inderjit, is also standing trial after denying three counts of money laundering in relation to the offences.
Gurdip and Inderjit Sohal are accused of two counts of conspiracy to defraud and three of money laundering.
The court heard that the two men used various business premises including units in Smethwick, Cannock, Walsall and Wolverhampton to sell clocked cars.
Mark Jackson, prosecuting for Sandwell Council, told Wolverhampton Crown Court: “We say Inderjit and Gurdip Sohal were involved in a conspiracy to acquire cars, which were then clocked.
“The cars were advertised on Autotrader. They forged MOT certificates for the cars. The HPI reports were forged and fake service history books were provided.
“Gurdip was frequently there when the clocked cars were shown to customers. A number of the clocked cars were insured on a trade policy taken out by Gurdip Sohal.
“We say Inderjit was linked to the sales of the clocked cars as some of the proceeds were paid into his mother’s account and his now ex-wife’s bank account.
“Jaswinder Kaur received payments for two clocked cars in her building society account. For example, we say Inderjit and Gurdip sold a clocked Audi, which was said to have done 57,000 miles, but had done at least 112,000 miles. The proceeds for this sale were paid into her account.
“She says the money was the repayment of a loan she made to Inderjit, her son.”
The jury heard details of the sales of clocked cars over the time, including a BMW that was sold to an off-duty police officer, which was advertised with a mileage of 95,000 in October 2012, which had been MOT tested in July 2012 with the reading as 206,607 miles.
All three, from Lichfield Road, Willenhall, were given bail. The trial continues.
