Eight people have been convicted as part of a fraud and money laundering scam where in which a contracted finance officer working for Haringey Council made fraudulent payments to her accomplices for adult care services that were never delivered.
Ceyda Elkatme made payments to her accomplices’ bank accounts, which totalled more than £466,000. They then paid the money back into Elkatme’s or her husband’s account, whilst taking a cut for themselves.
The fraud, which took place between June 2010 and October 2012, saw Elkatme make 66 fraudulent payments to her seven accomplices from Haringey Council’s Adult Services Payments Team – the team responsible for administering payments to individuals involved in providing care services for vulnerable adults in Haringey.
An internal audit and investigation by Haringey Council revealed the suspect payments, which were reported to police by the council in December 2012. Detectives made further enquiries into the payments and transactions and officers arrested Elkatme, who by that time was no longer working for the council, along with six others on 10 July, 2013. A further arrest was made on 2 August.
Elkatme was charged with fraud by false representation and her co-defendants were all charged with money laundering on 10 and 11 June 2014. They are due to be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday 19 August.
Haringey Borough Commander, Superintendent Amanda Dellar said:
“This was a despicable crime where Elkatme abused her position as a finance officer to defraud Haringey Council out of well over £450,000 of what was effectively public money. Working with her husband and accomplices, they set out to launder hundreds of thousands of pounds between them – money which should have been paid to people providing essential care services for vulnerable adults in the borough.”
Haringey Council Leader Councillor Claire Kober said:
“We welcome the outcome of this case. Ms Elkatme showed complete disregard for Haringey’s residents and abused her position at the council for the financial gain of herself and those around her.
“We will not tolerate those who seek to defraud local taxpayers to fund their own lavish lifestyles and will always take action and work with the police to investigate and prosecute wherever we discover evidence of wrongdoing.”
+ On 27 November 2014, Ceyda Elkatme, 34 (03.11.1980) of Sterling Avenue, Waltham Cross pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to fraud by false representation.
+ Two women, Tijen Kacakoglu, 35 (12.06.1980) of Kimberley Road, Edmonton and Ajda Saykin-Bezci, 39 (06.10.1979) of Dunheved Road South, Thornton Heath, and two men, Nicos Kolas 33 (09.11.1981) of Albany Park Avenue, Enfield and Jihad Elkatme, 34 (04.01.1981) of Sterling Avenue, Waltham Cross (Ceyda’s husband) also pleaded guilty on the same date to money laundering by entering in an arrangement contrary to Section 328 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA).
+ Three men, Iqbal Bablu, 27 (21.01.1988) of Landseer Road, Enfield, Mazar Khan, 35 (05.07.1980) previously of Millicent Grove, Palmers Green and Abid Fostok, 32 (13.06.1982) of Streamside Close, Edmonton were all found guilty of money laundering on 10 August following a five-day trial at Southwark Crown Court.
+ Fadumo Ali, 48 (01.06.1967) of Chauncey Close, Edmonton was also found not guilty on the same date of acquiring criminal property contrary to section 329 of POCA.
During the course of their investigation officers also found an irregular payment made to Ali, a genuine contractor with Haringey Council. As the overpayment had not been reported to the council, officers arrested Ali on 4 September 2013 and she was subsequently charged with acquiring criminal property on 11 June, 2014 but was found not guilty following a trial last week.