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Couple ‘said they built football star’s home in £100,000 con’
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent14 Apr 2010
A couple conned a friend out of nearly £100,000 by claiming they were wealthy property developers who had built the home of England footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips, a court heard.
Permjit Sagoo, 43, and wife Arneep, 41, had a £1.2 million house in the Surrey stockbroker belt, bought expensive cars and sent their children to private school thanks to a series of frauds, Southward crown court was told.
Mr Sagoo, also known as Peter, is said to have boasted he owned 60 houses and a share of London's Hippodrome nightclub.
He owned cars including a Bentley and a Porsche, despite allegedly being banned from driving, and treated friends to days at polo matches.
However, husband and wife were fraudsters, persuading friends to invest in worthless deals, laundering hundreds of thousands of pounds and cheating a mortgage firm into paying out £750,000, it is claimed.
Mr Sagoo targeted parents he met at events at his children's schools. He boasted to one that he had built the Surrey home of Manchester City winger Wright-Phillips, who then played for Chelsea.
Nigel Knowles said he and his wife were friends with the Sagoos and often visited their Hindhead home.
He said in a statement: “[Mr Sagoo] had spoken of being into property in London, of ownership of 60 properties, including part ownership of the Hippodrome.
“He showed me round a house in West Horsley he said he had built, which is now owned by Shaun Wright-Phillips. His possession of top-of-the-range motor vehicles gave me the impression that he was a successful businessman.”
Mr Knowles said Mr Sagoo had taken him to another property in Godalming and offered him the chance to invest in it. In 2005, Mr Knowles transferred £45,000 to Mr Sagoo's company Harper's Group, and followed it up with a further £52,000. But when no return came, Mr Sagoo made a series of excuses. He eventually repaid Mr Knowles £102,000 in 2006.
Another investor, Ian Boyle, who also knew the Sagoos through their children, was not so lucky after he handed him £160,000 for a business venture.
Mr Boyle said after he invested £100,000, Mr Sagoo gave him two cash payments of £20,000, which he now believed was an “inducement” to extract an extra £60,000. But the money was never repaid.
Sagoo, now of Staines, admits three counts of transferring and one of receiving criminal property.
He also admits obtaining money by deception over a fraudulent mortgage application to the Kensington Mortgage Company. He told the firm he was an IT contractor earning £180,000 a year, allowing him to secure a loan of £751,540 against his Hindhead home.
Mrs Sagoo denies a similar charge in relation to the same application. Prosecutors say she falsely claimed she was earning £95,000 a year. She denies seven money laundering charges.
The trial continues.
