Postman in biggest letter theft in RM History - 8 Years Jail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Postman who targeted the City of London in biggest letter theft in Royal Mail history to steal £2.3MILLION weeps in the dock as he is jailed for eight years

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... paign=1490" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ajaz Budi, 33, wept uncontrollably as he was sentenced at the Old Bailey
Stole cheques ranging from £50 to £110,000 at Mount Pleasant, London
Judge John Bevan said the 'massive scale theft' was 'sophisticated'
He targeted the Square Mile, one of the world's biggest financial centres
Father-of-three stashed cheques in his girlfriend's house and post van


A postman who stole £2.3million worth of cheques from a Royal Mail sorting office has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years.

For three years, father-of-three Ajaz Budi, 33, helped himself to hundreds of parcels from the Mount Pleasant sorting office in Central London in one of the most 'sophisticated' criminal operations the postal service has seen.

He was caught when a Royal Mail fraud investigation team set up secret cameras which filmed him taking the cheques with values ranging from £50 to £110,000.

Budi is said to have deliberately targeted the Square Mile, one of the world's biggest financial hubs, during the scam.

One of the victims, International legal firm Clyde and Co, lost cheques worth £2,271,289 in just three months as Budi and his accomplices wrongly paid them into accounts they had set up.

The court heard piles of cheques worth over £230,000 were also found in Budi’s van when he was arrested and stolen mail was discovered in his car.

Budi was earning just £375 a week as a Royal Mail employee but police recovered a total of almost £39,000 at his home and his girlfriend’s flat.

He wept uncontrollably as Old Bailey Judge John Bevan sentenced him, saying the theft was on a ‘massive scale’.

Judge Bevan said: ‘This appears to be one of the largest scales of theft of mail by a postman that the Royal Mail are aware of.

‘It’s certainly one of the most sophisticated. The Royal Mail is a hallowed and valuable national institution, one of the jewels in the crown of this country.

‘The economy relies on documents being able to be distributed safely and securely.’

The court heard that when the cheques were stolen they were often paid into bank accounts set up with names similar to that of the genuine payee.

When the fraudsters stole cheques from legal firm Taylor Wessing they were banked into the account of a Mr Taylor Wessing.

The Mount Pleasant sorting office is one of the biggest in the world and deals with all the post for the City of London.

Judge Bevan added: ‘It’s no coincidence that on 25 May 2012 both you and your accomplice were stealing cheques belonging to Clyde and Co and between February and May 2012 cheques valued at £2.3million were stolen,’ he continued.

‘You targeted financial post sent to banks, solicitors and even barristers chambers. You lacked the courage to admit your guilt in the face of overwhelming evidence,’ Judge Bevan said.

Budi told ‘obvious and transparent lies’ in the witness box to try and escape conviction, he added.

‘The jury took less than four hours to convict on all eight counts,’ Judge Bevan continued.

‘These thefts and your destroying many documents in addition to those retrieved they were persistent, on a grand scale and with a carefully instated disposal scheme in place.’

‘There was an effective chain of distribution, it was being done professionally and to make money.

‘There is no knowing what the loss in fact is. It’s on a scale of efficiency and persistence way beyond the reach or skills of the average postman thief.

...‘This appears to be one of the largest scales of theft of mail by a postman that the Royal Mail are aware of' - Judge John Bevan at the Old Bailey

‘It represents a systematic attack on City funds which you have realised did considerable damage on their operation and your employer the Royal Mail.’

He added that Budi failed to ‘cover his tracks’ because he thought he was ‘untouchable’ and even blamed his colleagues for the thefts.

Budi also persuaded members of his family to lie to the jury for him, Judge Bevan continued.

He also had been able to afford to buy a property for investment and keep a wife, two children and a girlfriend who also had a child. A fourth child is due later this year.

Police also found hundreds of letters, cheque book stubs and credit card details Budi had taken from the post.

Budi said that when he was filmed he was just trying to help out with post that had been incorrectly sorted.

He said the post found at his home had been mysteriously sent to him and he did not want to report it to his bosses because he thought he might get into trouble.

But the jury convicted him of six charges of theft, possessing articles namely stolen bank books, for use in fraud and possession of criminal property, between 1 April 2009 and 25 May 2012.

Budi, who denied the charges, was convicted of eight charges including theft, possession of articles for use in fraud and possession of criminal property.

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[bustedflush]

Wasn't there a similar case years back of Asians nicking cheques to the Inland Revenue, and paying them into a bank account they had set up with the name Mr. Inlandi Reveni or similar? The daft tw@ts turned up for work at their sorting office in 60k Porsches if I recall correctly. 3 or 4 were given long sentences.

[datasaint]

lol at the judge

The Royal Mail is a hallowed and valuable national institution, one of the jewels in the crown of this country.

Surprised he didn't enact the death penalty given he's still living in the 18th century.

[teesdale]

untouchable, obvious and transparent lies, blaming his colleagues.

[arnold cheshire]

Wasn't there a similar case years back of Asians nicking cheques to the Inland Revenue, and paying them into a bank account they had set up with the name Mr. Inlandi Reveni or similar? The daft tw@ts turned up for work at their sorting office in 60k Porsches if I recall correctly. 3 or 4 were given long sentences.

very interesting is there a link ?

[arnold cheshire]

how did he set up bank accounts in similar names ?? with id checks ?

[bustedflush]

Wasn't there a similar case years back of Asians nicking cheques to the Inland Revenue, and paying them into a bank account they had set up with the name Mr. Inlandi Reveni or similar? The daft tw@ts turned up for work at their sorting office in 60k Porsches if I recall correctly. 3 or 4 were given long sentences.

very interesting is there a link ?

OK, I can't find a link to the precise story as it was in the national press back in the early nineties before the internet era, but the sorting office was London or Birmingham IIRC. I definitely remember the members of the gang being suspected then investiagted after turing up to work in flash expensive cars and they were 4 Asians. Here are more recent ones, especially the top one:



http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl ... n-1.812935" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bill ... heque.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.n ... enDocument" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


http://warband.wordpress.com/category/fraud/page/6/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This one mentions or alludes to the story:


http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... 47698&nmt=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Check out the tale in the last link of a 'Pay HMRC' cheque being changed to H.MR.C PATEL...you couldn't make it up.

[Darren Bent]

Madness and greedy. Turning up to work in a porsche is asking for trouble and investigation.

[arnold cheshire]

Madness and greedy. Turning up to work in a porsche is asking for trouble and investigation.

why ? maybe the wife has a good job maybe you had an inheritance .

[stokes11eg]

Stealing for 3 years? How on earth can they get away for it for so long. ? And personally, to me, £375 quid is quite a good wage---

[arnold cheshire]

Stealing for 3 years? How on earth can they get away for it for so long. ? And personally, to me, £375 quid is quite a good wage---

325 here