£18k West Lothian benefits cheat avoids jail

Jan 28 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

A BENEFITS cheat who fraudulently claimed £18,000 in tax credits has avoided a prison sentence — after agreeing to pay the money back.

Omotoyosi Lanipekun received child tax credit and working tax credit after she told benefits officials that she was a single mother on limited income.

But an investigation revealed she was in fact living with her husband in the upmarket Murieston area of Livingston where they were raking in £2000 per month each running a profitable IT consultancy business.

Now the 34-year-old must hand over an incredible £52,194.65 to Revenue and Customs after a further investigation under the proceeds of crime act found a huge chunk of unaccounted for income and expenditure.

Fiscal depute Victoria Greening told Livingston Sheriff Court: “As there were concerns regarding her claim an investigation took place where two significant changes came to light.

“Her husband had been living with her in the family home and that she and her husband had gone into business.

“The business had initially not been profitable but over time this state of affairs had changed remarkably. The level of income from both was such that the accused would not have been entitled to any form of tax credit over the period libelled.”

The court heard Lanipekun had paid back £8286.62 so far and had six months to pay back the rest that was owed.

Lanipekun, whose address was given as Gelder Drive, Livingston, pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining child tax credit and working tax credit.

Her solicitor, David Taylor, said Revenue and Customs had initially wanted his client to pay back £390,000.

“This was not accepted,” Mr Taylor added.

“A forensic accountant was employed to raise issues about the original claim. This was then revised and reduced to £110,000. There were two further revisions and after further discussions they reached agreement at a figure of just over £52,000.

“She is anxious to pay the sums in full. She has two properties, one in which she resides and one which has been held on to for rental income. What they say they will have to do is either sell or remortgage their own property in order to make good the sum needed.

“The forensic accountant says the difference between the £18,000 and £52,000 relates largely to the company income which has not been properly documented or taxed.

“The court will ultimately have its pound of flesh one way or another.”

Mr Taylor said the mother-of-two had initially made the claim in good faith.

“She was left by her husband and had two young children and was left in a position of some destitution and was helped by the tax credits that she claimed.

“The difficulty is that she allowed the claim to run unamended. She accepts there was a change in circumstances to which she didn’t alert the authorities to. She has no previous convictions and nothing outstanding.

“She is a deeply religious woman and has taken advice from her pastor on this matter which was a crime, but from her point of view also a sin which she takes very seriously.”

Sentencing Lanipekun to 160 hours of community service Sheriff Alan Millar said: “Clearly this situation was a financial debt to society which has to be collected through proceeds of crime proceedings.

“I am pleased to hear that it has progressed to the stage of agreement. Of course there is also a debt of trust to society and it is a serious matter for this reason.

“However, I think it is a case I can deal with by means of a community disposal.”