Woman failed to declare she was a student
A woman has been hauled before the courts by Ealing Council for committing benefit fraud.
Donna Akinola, 24, of Cumberland Park, appeared before Ealing Magistrates court on Thursday, 22 July. Akinola applied for benefits, but failed to declare that she was a student at Middlesex University, in receipt of a student loan and grant as well as not declaring the bank account that the loan and grant were paid into.
Her offences were uncovered after the council took part in the National Fraud Iniative which compares records held by other organisations. The match identified that Akinola was in receipt of Housing Benefit in Ealing from June 2008 but was already in receipt of the undeclared loan and grant from December 2006, which continued to 2010.
Akinola pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to fraudulently claiming around £10,000 in housing benefits between June 2008 and February 2010. She was given a Community Order requiring her to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work within the next 12-months and ordered to pay £200 towards the council’s costs.
Cabinet member for Finance and Performance, Councillor Yvonne Johnson, said: “People who fraudulently claim benefits are stealing from us all. We always seek to prosecute benefits cheats and I hope the fact that we do bring people before the courts will help discourage other people from committing fraud.”
It is not known how whether the Housing Benefit fraudulently received by Akinola
has been reclaimed. We have asked Ealing Council to let us know and will keep readers updated once we have the information.
August 3, 2010
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