1:40pm Monday 23rd January 2012 in

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/9487182.Newsagent_jailed_for___581_000_money_laundering_operation/

A NEWSAGENT has been jailed for threeand- a-half years for using his business for a £581,000 money laundering operation.

Father-of-two David Ojo sobbed as he was led from the dock to begin his sentence.

Winchester Crown Court heard how Ojo used Andor News in Portswood, Southampton, to send accomplices money which had been fraudulently obtained from unsuspecting victims in an Internet-based scam.

The 31-year-old used false names and addresses in his records to disguise what was really going on, the court heard.

It was done through the Western Union organisation, which provides a money transfer service enabling people to send funds around the world via a network of local agents, who receive commission.

Ojo, of Briarswood, Southampton, was one such agent.

The court heard how cash sums totalling £581,900 came into Ojo’s shop between February and July 2009.

The court heard how almost exactly the same amount was then paid out from Andor News, of which Ojo was proprietor.

The shop received 695 transactions and sent out 784.

It is understood that it was customer complaints that sparked an investigation which led to Ojo being charged.

Police found files in the cellar of the shop, which attempted to disguise the real activity by recording it as a series of legitimate transactions, with false identities and addresses of supposed senders and recipients with multiple payouts sometimes totalling thousands of pounds to bogus identities, the court was told.

These transactions were in Ojo’s handwriting and some had his fingerprints on them.

During his trial, Ojo claimed that he would check and copy details on to new forms from rough ones used at the time of the transactions, which were often not done by him, but his two shop assistants.

‘Tip of the iceberg’ Judge Recorder Stuart Jones QC told how during the trial at Southampton Crown Court jurors had been shown five examples of victims, including people who were attempting to buy a car or flat and somebody trying to send cash to a friend in need, but prosecutors described this as “the tip of the iceberg”.

Jurors at Southampton Crown Court found Ojo guilty of entering into or becoming concerned in a money laundering arrangement, the court heard.

Robert Bryan, mitigating, said that Ojo was of previous good character, had not made any substantial gains other than commission, and his family were “still scratching a living”

from the business, now called Premier Express.

He said the operation was not as sophisticated as it appeared, describing it as “a form being filled in and left downstairs”

and that Ojo was “effectively bound to be found out”.

Mr Bryan added that the defendant was hard-working and well regarded by family and friends.

“This must be a considerable fall from grace for him,” he said.

Ojo faces a confiscation hearing on June 22, when the court could seize any cash he gained personally from the scam.