A convicted money launderer who was involved in the Prior Park College scam of foreign nationals has been ordered to pay £213,000 as a result of a prosecution by Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Trading Standards team.
Sanketkumar Patel (38) of Eden Hall Close, Leicester was ordered to pay a total of £213,000 in confiscation, compensation, and costs on September 20, 2021 at Bristol Crown Court by His Honour Judge Horton.
Judge Horton decided that Patel had benefitted from the proceeds of crime in the amount of £150,000. He ordered him to pay that amount to the court within three months or to face three and a half years imprisonment in default. He ordered that £6,500 of that money would be paid to one of the victims.
The court heard that Patel had £226,000 in assets including his home, a house he owned as a landlord and £35,000 that was seized from his business premises.
Judge Horton described the enquiry by the council’s Trading Standards Team as ‘proficient and dedicated’ and said that it had often been delayed and frustrated by the defendant and as a result the judge ordered Mr Patel to pay £63,000 in costs to Bath & North East Somerset Council