Wigan police officer on trial accused of obtaining confidential information for friends' business

Akeel Kadir, who lives in Wigan, was paid thousands of pounds for his help, it was claimed – much of which he quickly spent on online gambling.

The 54-year-old officer is on trial at Liverpool Crown Court along with three other men, who were all connected to Apex Claims (UK) Ltd, based at Apex House, Bolton.

The jury heard the case follows an investigation by Greater Manchester Police’s anti-corruption unit into PC Kadir “who abused his position within the force to access secure systems and obtain confidential police information, which he then shared to the benefit of three friends, who were not part of the force,” claimed Nicholas Johnson, KC, prosecuting.

“All three, Junaid Patel, Mohammed Soorma and Soyab Dhalech, were connected to a motor insurance claims company called Apex Claims (UK) Ltd. Much of the information PC Kadir provided was not for a proper policing purpose but to help out the business interests of his friends.

“The benefit wasn’t all one way. Often Junaid Patel requested the police information, PC Kadir would provide it and then say ‘U need to help me out bro’ or ‘U owe me big time’.

“There is evidence that PC Kadir received over £8,000 during the period this useful information was provided, the payments often overseen by Soyab Dhalech and coming via third party company payments. PC Kadir quickly spent the money he received, mainly through online gambling,” claimed Mr Johnson.

“All these defendants deny being involved. Despite his training, PC Kadir says he thought this was proper policing.

“The other defendants either claim to have no idea it was going on, that PC Kadir just came in for a cup of tea and chit chat, or they saw nothing wrong in asking for or getting this confidential information.

“They all say the money paid to him was for innocent reasons, such as sponsorship, charity, loans or gifts,” he said.

Mr Johnson alleged Kadir sometimes accessed sensitive police information while at Apex Claims.

Kadir, of Kilburn Road, Orrell, Patel, 36, of Edstone Close, Soorma, 50, of Bankfield Street, and Dhalech, 53, of Princess Road, Lostock, all deny conspiracy to improperly exercise police powers and privileges between April 13, 2015 and November 13, 2019.

Kadir also denied three offences involving “knowingly or recklessly” obtaining or disclosing personal data on August 22, 2018, March 2, 2019 and 26 March, 2019 without consent of the data controller.

The court heard Kadir joined GMP in April 2005 and he was a uniformed officer in Bolton until 2019, when he moved to Wigan.

Mr Johnson told the jury the importance of behaving properly and with integrity as a police officer is not only reflected in training, but they are presented with warning messages every time they log onto police data systems.

“Upon logging into such systems, the user is reminded of their responsibilities as taught in training, and that they could be committing various crimes if the information they are accessing is misused. They are specifically told that information can only be used for a proper policing purpose.”

Mr Johnson continued: “It would have been plain to him that accessing police intelligence in order to further friends’ business interests was not a proper policing purpose.”

He explained police officers have to notify any of their associations if it could potentially lead to the compromise of any GMP member or operations, investigations or integrity of GMP.

“Kadir never registered Patel, Soorma or Dhalech as notifiable associations,” he said.

The jury heard Dhalech was appointed a director of Apex on February 2, 2019 and terminated his directorship on July 1 the following year. on which date Patel became a director of the company. Apex House was owned by Dhalech.

A number of associated companies operated out of Apex House over the years, before being struck off, including four with Patel being a director and one with Dhalech.

Two further companies continued to operate – Paloma Car Hire Ltd with Patel as a director and Mohram Properties Ltd with Dhalech as a director.

Mr Johnson said examples of improper behaviour included Kadir getting details for Patel after his partner’s car was stolen and the next day a £1,000 cheque was paid into Kadir’s bank account drawn on Saka Car Hire, of which Patel was director.

Within 15 minutes, Kadir sent Dhalech a text saying ‘Thank you so much for the sponsorship bro’.

Mr Johnson said there were no texts between any of the defendants discussing sponsorship during the indictment period.

“In fact, we will see that money received by PC Kadir seems to be spent by him largely on gambling or is dissipated via multiple ATM withdrawals, store credit cards and other payments, quickly being spent,” said Mr Johnson.

In October 2016, £3,100 was paid into the officer’s bank account, after which he messaged Dhalech thanking him “for the gift and the money”. The majority of the money was spent at William Hill and Bet Fred.

Another £3,000 went into his account in November 2017 after helping Patel and messaging Dhalech and that too was quickly gambled way.

In a prepared statement after his arrest, Kadir said Dhalech was a family friend he bought vehicles from and stated he could not recall any improper access of data.

But Mr Johnson said Kadir said he would “often search for suspicious vehicles he sees, or search for updates when approached by members of the community. So, essentially, PC Kadir seems to be saying he believed this was proper policing.”

Kadir claims the £3,000 from Dhalech in 2017 was a loan. When re-interviewed in September 2019 he gave a second prepared statement saying he had not received any money to provide information from police systems.

“The £1,000 cheque from Saka Car Hire was sponsorship of a football tournament arranged by the local mosque and the deposits of cash and cheques were wedding presents to him and his wife.”

Mr Johnson said the jury would have to decide, “whether his trips to Apex House were or may have been purely social, perfectly innocent, just a cup of tea and a catch up, or whether a line was crossed and something more improper was going on.”

The case continues.