Indian-origin trio jailed for faking designer garments

An Indian-origin businessman in Britain, along with his brother and father, has been jailed for manufacturing fake designer garments worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, a media report said.

Principal offender Kuldip Singh, 26, director of Kully Screen Printing Ltd in Britain's Leicester, was sentenced to 23 months in jail by the Leicester Crown Court, The Leicester Mercury reported Wednesday.

His father, Shinderpal Singh, 56, and brother, Sarbjit Singh 24, were each jailed for 11 months.

The three men from Crown Hills in Leicester city in Britain's East Midlands admitted to offences under the 1994 Trademark Act between Oct 2010 and Aug 2011.

The court described the company as a "large-scale, highly sophisticated and a professional operation."

More than 100,000 fake T-shirts, hooded tops and tracksuit bottoms were seized from the company premises by the trading standards officers, bearing 27 brand names including Adidas, Nike, Hugo Boss, Lacoste and Diesel.

Kuldip Singh has also been banned from holding a company directorship for five years.

The prosecutor for Leicester City Council trading standards said it was a "highly fraudulent counterfeiting operation".

Shinderpal Singh had been running the business lawfully until handing it over to Kuldip in early 2010 in a bid to earn profits.

Kuldip Singh, in his defence, said that he got involved in a dodgy counterfeit operation in order to support the family.

Sarbjit Singh contended that he did not produce any counterfeit goods.

The father, in his defence, said that he was embarrassed about the shame he has brought upon his family.

The company started producing mainly counterfeit garments from Oct 2010.

Trading standards officers came for the inspection in August 2011.

However, Sarbjit Singh, who was minding the premises while his brother and father were in India, refused to allow an inspection.

"Shinderpal Singh continued to work in the factory and was also called upon because of his expertise," the judge said, while adding that Sarbjit Singh is the least involved.

The business had not submitted any accounts and Sarbjit Singh hid incriminating paperwork in a hole in the ceiling, the report said.

Kuldip Singh admitted to 26 offences under the Trademark Act, his father admitted to 19 and his brother admitted to 17.