A Nigeria illegal immigrant who headed a gang which used the identities of MPs, judges and police officers to con the UK taxpayer out of millions of pounds has been jailed for more than five years.
Kayode Sanni, 38, received a jail term of five years and three months for his part in the elaborate scam.
Fraudsters stole personal details from the Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC), which provides sport and fitness facilities to more than 120,000 public sector employees and pensioners.
Member lists were ‘stolen to order’ from CSSC and used to place orders for tax credit starter packs used in fraudulent claims over a four year period.
CSSC events manager Adedamola Oyebode, 30, stole membership lists and passed them on to her brothers-in-law Oluwatobe Emmanuel Odeyemi, 34, and Oluwagbenga Stephen Odeyemi, 39, who ran the fraud with Sanni.
The gang managed to get away with £2,500,000 before staff at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs spotted the ‘extraordinarily high rate’ of claims being made by civil servants.
If the scam had not been stopped it could have reaped more than £10,260,525, the Old Bailey heard.
Sanni told jurors “my conscience is clear” after denying involvement in the scam.
He was convicted after standing trial for one count of conspiracy to become knowingly concerned in a fraudulent act between 10 March 2009 and 11 June 2013.
Emmanuel Odeyemi, Chantelle Gumbs and Adedamole Oyebode had already pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
Odeyemi was jailed for three and a half years, Gumbs was handed a 15-month sentence suspended for two years, and Oyebode received a two-year sentence suspended for two years.
Sentencing, Judge Paul Dodgson said: “This is a serious fraud you all involved yourself in.
“There is no doubt that much of the money has been sent to Nigeria.”
Sanni had expressed his remorse for the scam in a letter following his conviction.
Judge Dodgson rejected the conman’s expressions of remorse, noting: “He lied through his teeth.
“I think he is remorseful that he got caught.
“I’m sorry; I just can’t regard that as sincere.
“I can’t see how someone who contested the matter, who in the jury’s judgement, and in mine as well, just blatantly lied throughout and then claimed to be remorseful.”
