Seven plead guilty in one of largest housing fraud cases

A London borough has successfully prosecuted seven people, including an individual who worked in its homeless department, after uncovering what is thought to have been one of the largest housing fraud cases of recent times.

The seven defendants – Southwark council employee Ibrahim Bundu, his mother Marie Bundu, his ex-wife, Ada Kamara, his estranged wife Fatmata Koroma, and Korama’s aunt, Haja Sesay, along with fellow defendants Aminata Lassayo, and Rebecca Quartey – had initially pleaded not guilty at Woolwich Crown Court.

They changed their pleas after the prosecution case had been put forward by the local authority. They will be sentenced next month.

The scheme, which dated as far back as 2003, involved the processing of bogus housing applications.

According to the council, Ibrahim Bundu used fake identities and false personal data, and gave those false applicants characteristics that would make them 'high priority' for housing.

“For example, he pretended single women were pregnant, helping their applications to go the top of the housing waiting list,” Southwark said. “He used fake documents to support the fictional applications, making them very hard to trace at the time, and then allocated homes to the fake characters, who in real life were his friends and family.

“Over time, he then extended his offer to others, who paid him for securing them a home. Through the course of the investigation, officers discovered payments made to his account, swiftly followed by corresponding housing applications going through a few days later.”

Bundu allocated 23 properties fraudulently overall. His co-defendants received six of those properties. Fifteen of the properties have been recovered and the remaining eight will be reclaimed now the fraud case has ended.

Southwark uncovered the fraud in 2011 through the National Fraud Initiative, which matches data. One of the tenants involved in the case had used fake documents when making the application. The council’s investigation then discovered that every document used to support the housing application was fake.

Subsequent checks, via the UK Borders Agency and HMRC, revealed that a number of the applciations had resulted in council homes being allocated to people who were not legally allowed to be in the country.

Cllr Richard Livingstone, Southwark’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, said: "This shocking case shows how in the past some criminals were able to abuse the system for their own gain. I’m pleased to say that this is much harder since we clamped down hard on fraud, introduced passport scanners to help identify fake documents, and started using ever more intelligent data checks to uncover anything suspicious.”