4:41pm Monday 17th May 2010
By Matt Watts
Warrants have been issued for the arrest of a family of benefit cheats believed to have skipped the country during their trial for dishonestly claiming more than £30,000 in housing and council tax benefit.
The council took the five brothers and sisters to court after they submitted forged tenancy agreements claiming to be from private landlords, as well as false housing and council tax benefit claims.
Seema Khalique, 34, Imran Khalique Khan, 35, Bushra Khalique, 33, Nazia Khalique, 28, and Irfan Khalique, 32, of Beechcroft Close, Streatham, would forge documents that inflated the amount of rent they were supposed to be paying to landlords, and used these to claim benefits from the council, ripping off tax payers to the tune of thousands of pounds.
Towards the end of the three week trial they failed to appear at court, texting their defence lawyers to ask for the case be adjourned because they had to go to Pakistan for a family emergency.
Last Thursday they were found guilty in their absence of fraudulently obtaining benefits and were all handed prison sentences ranging from six to 12 months in jail. Warrants have now been issued for their arrest.
Councillor Paul McGlone, Lambeth Council’s cabinet member elect for finance, said; “This was a brazen and fairly sophisticated fraud over quite a prolonged period, but these offenders were brought to justice thanks to the skill and professionalism of our fraud investigation team, who had suspicions about their claims and launched an investigation."
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