Gangar/White verdict due

Awaiting verdict: Shinder Gangar

A verdict is due in Birmingham Crown Court over a pair of accountants accused
of running a Ponzi scheme that drew investors in through the use of celebrities’
names.

Shinder Gangar and Alan White of Nottingham-based Dobb White & Co are
alleged to have lured investors by saying Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Sir David
Frost had put their money in, when neither had.

Summing up this week, Justice Brian Longstaff advised the jury: ‘You may feel
distressed, even angered, by the experiences of some of those witnesses,
although you may feel that some were completely casual with their money or
simply greedy.’He also asked jurors to consider the length of time the case took
to bring to trial. ‘Is that a reflection of the reliability of the complaint or
does it arise from the conduct of the defendants?’ he said

‘Is the delay understandable when what has to be unravelled and understood
are e-mails, documents and accounts involving many companies, many different
countries, and accounting records.’Gangar and White say that they truly believed
that schemes existed which could produce high returns at no real risk to the
investors’ capital.

Justice Longstaff’s summing up was expected to conclude today, with the jury
to retire to consider its verdict thereafter.