Four Nigerians face trial for £10m scam in UK

Four suspected fraudsters, who are Nigerian natives, are currently being prosecuted for allegedly using the identities of civil servants to commit a £10million scam in the United Kingdom.

The accused were said to have stolen personal details from the Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC), to make fraudulent claims over a four-year period.

The gang, which reportedly made about £2,500,000, would have got away with £10,260,525 if staff at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs had not discovered the high rate of claims being made by civil servants.

Adedamola Oyebisi, 30, a CSSC events manager, was accused of stealing membership lists and passing them on to her brothers-in-law Oluwatobe Emmanuel Odeyemi, 34, and Oluwagbenga Stephen Odeyemi, 39, who allegedly ran the fraud with Kayode Sanni, 38.

Dailymail reports that Sanni, an illegal immigrant, denied being involved in the fraud and told Old Bailey jurors ‘my conscience is clear’.

“I’m quite satisfied at this stage that there is a significant risk that if he were released on bail he would fail to attend,” Michael Topolski, the judge presiding over the case, said.

“In my judgement, the situation has changed drastically.

“He chose to contest this matter against what I considered to be overwhelming evidence.

“His incentive to stay in this country has now diminished”, he added.

Emmanuel Odeyemi and Adedamole Oyebode have already pleaded guilty and will be sentenced with Sanni at the Old Bailey on July 6.

The prosecutor, Allison Hunter, a Queens counsel said: “These defendants went to exceptionally complex and sophisticated lengths in their orchestration of this fraud.

“They themselves operate under a number of fluid pseudonyms and false identities, operate a multiplicity of email address, have access to a number of mobile phone numbers and have spread the conduct of this fraud over computers and electronic storage devices sufficient to stock a small warehouse.”