Cocky Apprentice hopeful Daniel Elahi is hiding a secret past as a drug dealer
APPRENTICE wannabe Daniel Elahi is hiding a secret past as a convicted drug dealer.
Elahi, 28, was caught with a stash of cannabis he planned to sell to students.
The Sun on Sunday has already told how Elahi, in Lord Sugar’s new BBC series tomorrow, posed with a gun in a gangland-style photo.
Friends of the Apprentice hopeful said they were stunned the BBC failed to uncover his secret past as a convicted drug dealer.
Banker Elahi, 28, admitted intent to supply cannabis after police caught him with a drug stash in his car boot.
Soon after his trial he stopped using his real first name Gareth and started using his middle name Daniel instead.
One former friend said: “I really can’t believe he managed to get through all the interviews for The Apprentice without them checking his background.
“I remember when he got arrested for drug-dealing. It was in the local paper and it was big news around where he grew up and went to school.
“You’d think the BBC would have done some basic checks on people to make sure they’re not criminals and drug dealers.”
Elahi, an analyst with Credit Suisse bank until December 2017, was caught with the cannabis in 2010 when he was a student.
His Bristol crown court trial was told police pulled him over when they spotted him using his phone while driving.
They smelled cannabis smoke and a search revealed 17oz of the drug, worth about £5,000. Elahi, of Wraxall, near Bristol, was sentenced to 150 hours community service.
The court heard he bought the drugs to sell on to mates at Leicester University, where he was studying economics.
The ex-friend said Elahi was in a gang of yobs as a teenager, adding: “Daniel, or Gareth as we knew him, always reckoned he was some kind of gangster. He used to hang around parks with his mates, all in hoodies and listening to rap music.
“He liked to think of himself as a hard man but he was quite soft.
“I can’t believe he’s turned up on TV on The Apprentice calling himself Daniel. Maybe he wants to try to escape his past.
“I remember him being arrogant and a bully at school. He was in a group of other bullies. They were the popular guys and used to pick on everyone.
“He used to walk around like he owned the place. Now years later he’s apparently this big-time entrepreneur on The Apprentice claiming to be financially successful and going under a different name. It was quite a shock to how I remember him — being intimidating and a bully.”
Elahi is already facing the wrath of Apprentice host Lord Sugar after The Sun on Sunday published a photo of him posing like a gangster with a gun.
Now the BBC will face questions over its vetting procedures for not uncovering Elahi’s drug-dealing past. Court records also reveal Elahi was convicted at East London’s Thames magistrates court in 2015 for giving a false name and address to police. He was fined £300.
The fine was later cancelled and he got a conditional discharge instead after an appeal.
Elahi is among the new batch of 16 candidates competing for Lord Sugar's £250,000 investment in the latest series of The Apprentice, which starts on Wednesday night.
Elahi calls himself as “lifestyle brand owner” and says he will be a millionaire by the time he is 30.
In a promo video Elahi says he has been looking for ways to make cash since childhood.
He said: “If I was a rapper my name would be MC Schemer, it’s what they called me as a kid. I was always scheming, trying to get rich.”
The picture of Elahi posing with a gun was taken when he was 15.
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Friends said he was part of a gang called P-Unit, modelled on rapper 50 Cent’s G-Unit group. The gun was an air pistol owned by a friend’s dad.
Elahi refused to comment tonight.
A BBC spokesperson said: ";DBS checks are done for all The Apprentice candidates by the production company ahead of filming.
"The charge brought against Daniel Elahi is a spent conviction which therefore was not disclosed under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.
"Spent convictions are designed to help people move on in life and not be excluded from opportunities to help further their careers."
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