Indian jailed for 14 months in money laundering case

A 37-year-old Indian-origin taxi driver has been sentenced to 14 months in jail by an Australian court for being an integral part of a money laundering operation.

Harmeet Singh, was today found guilty by a County Court jury for carrying a suitcase stacked with an unaccounted amount of 500,000 dollars in his cab three years ago, following two trials.

He had pleaded not guilty to a charge of dealing with the proceeds of crime in an amount greater than 100,000 dollars and offered to plead guilty to a lesser charge, on the basis he didn't know how much money he was carrying, was rejected by the court.

According to Herald Sun, Singh protested against the verdict in the court stating he was innocent.

Dismissing his claim that he had no idea what he was carrying on the day of his arrest, Judge Sexton found he was an integral part of the money laundering operation.

"I am satisfied your conduct in this offence was not fleeting and not restricted to the seven minutes or less that you were knowingly in possession of the 500,000 dollars," she said.

The incident occured in October 2013 when police pulled him over in a suburb of Ringwood when he was not carrying any passengers.

Police had spent a week on his tail and knew what they were looking for, the report said adding, that they found a suitcase stuffed with 500,000 dollars in cash in his cab.

However, it was not yet known where the money had come from, or where it was going.

Singh was taking orders from an associate in India, the report said.

He had collected the money from a US citizen known as Mendoza, who had travelled to Melbourne for the operation.

After collecting the cash, Singh drove seven minutes to his home but was intercepted by police in his driveway.

He told them he had collected money for his Indian associate before, but never in such large quantities.