Three men have today (26 August 2009) been convicted of trying to defraud banks of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Mr. Chelliah Morali, aged 35 years and an Indian national of Broughton Road, Croydon was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud and one count of possession of articles for use in fraud (forged passport, utility bills and bank cards).

Mr. Sinnaiah Krishnapillai Sudaharan, aged 48 years and a United Kingdom national of Poole Road, Epsom was convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud and two counts of possession of an article for use in fraud (passports, utility bills and numerous financial documents).

Finally, Mr. Azam Shaik, aged 30 years and an Indian national of Alexandra Avenue, Harrow, Middlesex was convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud.

Both Shaik and Morali are in the United Kingdom illegally.

Following a nine week trial, jurors returned a unanimous verdict against the three who were accused of setting up more than a hundred fake bank accounts in an attempt to gain access to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

They team were providing accounts to foreign nationals, in the country illegally, who needed bank accounts to enable them to finance their stay in the United Kingdom. It emerged that they charged clients a fee to open the accounts on their behalf. A charge of £500 was made for forged passports and utility bills which were needed to open the accounts, and £3,000 to assist in opening the bank accounts.

During the trial the court heard that the investigation into the three began in 2007 when Royal Bank of Scotland fraud investigators noticed a large number of forged documents were being used to open accounts at their branches in Croydon and Tooting. Investigators contacted the UK Border Agency Joint Immigration Crime Team and in October 2007 officers started to investigate the scam.

The turning point came on 31 December 2007 when officers were informed that one of the men was at the Croydon branch and was attempting to close down one of the fraudulent accounts using a fraudulent passport, whilst another man acted as look out outside.

Officers arrested the lookout, Morali.

On 30 January 2008 Mr. Sudaharan was arrested at his home address in Epsom. During searches at the home address and business addresses on Tooting High Street, officers discovered forged passports, forged utility bills and large quantities of financial documents. He was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud.

Forgery experts analysed the passports used to open all 115 bank accounts and were able to confirm that the majority of the documents were forgeries.

It was discovered that both Mr. Sudaharan and Mr Morali were 'introducers' who had met all of the 'clients' who wanted bank accounts through community and business links.

It is estimated that had the scam been allowed to run it could have cost the banks up to £4 million in outstanding loans.

On conviction, Detective Constable Paul Smith of the joint UK Border Agency and Metropolitan Police immigration crime team said,

'This is a highly organised and planned operation which was allowing illegal immigrants to gain access to bank accounts and ultimately large bank loans, allowing them to remain in the United Kingdom illegally. Through working with the ban''s fraud investigation team, we have been able to uncover this scam and prosecute those responsible.

He added,

'This is not a crime without victims. This money has been stolen from genuine bank customers who work hard for a living. It is only right that these people are held accountable.'

The three will be sentenced in Court 11 at Croydon Magistrates Court on Thursday 27 August at 1030.

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