Nigerian Illegal Immigrant Jailed For Leading Gang Of Nigerian Fraudsters In £10m Benefits Scam

Kayode Sanni, an illegal immigrant who headed a gang which used the identities of MPs, judges and police officers to con the taxpayer out of millions of pounds was jailed for more than five years.

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 OluwatobiEmmanuel Odeyemi, 34, and Oluwagbenga Stephen Odeyemi, 39, who ran the fraud with Kayode Sanni, 38. .

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. Illegal immigrant Sanni ‘lied through his teeth’ and 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. Sanni was jailed for five years and three months. .

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.