Three Bangladeshi benefit fraudsters behind £2million scam are ordered to pay back just £500,000 because they claim they have no more money
The elaborate ‘fraud factory’ saw hundreds of Bangladeshis flown into Britain
They were given passports and fake addresses to claim cash from the taxpayer
Gang behind the mass scam have been ordered to pay back around £500,000
Inquiries by Daily Mail reveal all three have, or had, valuable property interests
By Christian Gysin And Lee Sorrell For The Daily Mail
PUBLISHED: 00:57 GMT, 11 February 2017 | UPDATED: 10:12 GMT, 11 February 2017
The fraud was masterminded by Chowdhury Muyeed, 53, helped by his 48-year-old wife, Asma Khanam (pictured)
Three jailed fraudsters behind one of Britain’s biggest benefit scams will pay back only a fraction of their £2million proceeds.
The elaborate ‘fraud factory’ saw hundreds of Bangladeshis flown into Britain and given passports, sham addresses and national insurance numbers so they could illegally claim cash from the taxpayer.
The gang behind the scam have been ordered to pay back around £500,000 because they claim they have no more money.
But inquiries by the Daily Mail reveal that all three have, or had, valuable property interests.
The fraud was masterminded by crooked accountant Chowdhury Muyeed, 53, helped by his 48-year-old wife, Asma Khanam.
The pair were jailed for five-and-a-half years and three-and-a-half years respectively in April last year.
Habibur Rahman, 37, who aided the couple, was jailed for three years and three months.
Muyeed has now been ordered to repay £204,595.64, while his wife was told to cough up £228,444.53.
The couple have been given three months to pay or face a further 27 months in prison.
Rahman, who ran a recruitment firm which supplied addresses and fake jobs for the benefits cheats, has been ordered to repay £66,344 and £10,000 in costs.
While the fraudsters claim they cannot pay back what they owe, Muyeed and his wife owned a substantial home in Manor Park, east London, which they sold some months before their trial for a knock-down price of £275,000.
Muyeed (pictured) has now been ordered to repay £204,595.64, while his wife was told to cough up £228,444.53
The property, with four bedrooms and three reception rooms, is currently valued at £490,000.
It is believed Rahman has been freed and he is now understood to live in a property in Mile End, also east London.
The three-bedroom home was bought by Rahman in May 2008 for £249,999, but is now worth around £393,000.
During the gang’s trial last year, Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London heard how the couple set up two charities – Families for Survival UK and Save the Age – using them as fronts for the scam.
Two London boroughs, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets, lost at least £1.6million between them through fake housing benefit and council tax credit claims.
The Department for Work and Pensions also lost £420,000 from bogus tax credit claims. Much of the cash was paid straight into Muyeed’s accounts.
The Bangladesh-born accountant was head of finance at Blood Pressure UK, a genuine charity, while he was carrying out the fraud.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4213876/Bangladeshis-2m-scam-ordered-pay-500-000.html#ixzz4YNBX2wAD
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