BENT SOLICITOR Naveen Sagar ( 2007 )

Corrupt solicitor who helped construct false alibis faces jail for helping gang escape justice

DAILY MAIL online

 05 December 2007

 

 

Corrupt solicitor: Naveen Sagar faces jail

A corrupt solicitor who helped criminals construct false alibis and was found to have a mobile phone picture of an Old Bailey murder trial jury is today being sentenced for his role in helping a gang try to escape justice.
Naveen Sagar, 32, described by police as "very intelligent and astute" but also an "arrogant and cocky" person who believed he was "untouchable" is facing sentence at Kingston Crown Court.
The lawyer from Wembley, north west London, represented key members of a London criminal network which is believed to have made millions of pounds through selling heroin and used firearms.
His activities included an elaborate plan to try to portray the police falsely as corrupt by recording and editing conversations. He also arranged false alibis and regularly tipped off gang members of police activities.
After his arrest in February last year, a search of the home he shared with his parents revealed £85,000 under a bed.
Police also found an emergency services' radio scanner tuned into police channels.
He faces sentencing before Judge Fergus Mitchell after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice; attempting to pervert the course of justice; and two counts of fraud.
He has also pleaded guilty to contempt of court with intent after the picture of the Old Bailey murder trial jury was discovered on a mobile phone. Burglary committed on his parents' shop was also taken into consideration.
Police said they would be seeking to confiscate £1 million worth of assets under the Proceeds of Crime Act from Sagar alone as a result of the investigation.
He was arrested as part of Operation Pauldings, an inquiry launched nearly three years ago by the Central Task Force of the Metropolitan Police Serious and Organised Crime Command.
The operation has resulted in 35 arrests and nine convictions with seizures including four kilos of heroin, 280 rocks of crack cocaine, two Mac10 machine guns, five semi-automatic handguns, one revolver and 67 rounds of ammunition.
Police have also seized £300,000 in cash.
Other investigations linked to Pauldings have recovered a further ten kilos of cocaine, four handguns and ammunition.
Three police officers were commended for their bravery during a recent trial related to the investigation after a handgun was pointed from a car in Hackney, east London and a Porsche was driven at an officer.
Two members of the gang have already been sentenced to 18 years in prison each after being found guilty of firearms offences.
The sentencing of Sagar is expected a day before sentencing for the head of the criminal network, Ahmed Osman Hersi, 29, of Saxon Road, Southall, west London.
Hersi, who arrived in the UK as a Somali asylum seeker in 1985, and has served a jail sentence for car jacking, is said to have been discovered with a £45,000 watch after his arrest by police.
Police said his network primarily operated from the Southall area of west London, but over the course of investigations, they seized drugs and guns in Hackney, Leicester Square, and Shepherds Bush.
Hersi has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess firearms; money laundering; two counts of possession of a firearm with intent; possession with intent to supply Class A drugs; and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
He has also pleaded guilty to two counts of handling stolen goods.
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Beyer, from the Metropolitan Police Central Task Force, said: "This investigation led to the dismantling of an established highly organised criminal network that involved serious drug trafficking and firearms offences right across London and beyond."