A benefits cheat who fraudulently claimed £18,000 in tax credits has avoided a prison sentence after agreeing to pay the money back.
Omotoyosi Lanipekun received child tax credit and working tax credit after she told benefits officials that she was a single mother on limited income. But she was living with her husband in the upmarket Murieston area of Livingston where they were making £2,000 per month each running a profitable IT consultancy business.
Now she must hand over £52,194 to HMRC after a further investigation under the proceeds of crime act found a huge chunk of unaccounted for income and expenditure.
Lanipekun had paid back £8286.62 so far and had six months to pay back the rest that was owed. She pled guilty to fraudulently obtaining child tax credit and working tax credit.
The amount due had been revised down.
Her solicitor said the mother-of-two had initially made the claim in good faith.
“She was left by her husband and had two young children and was left in a position of some destitution and was helped by the tax credits that she claimed.
“The difficulty is that she allowed the claim to run unamended. She accepts there was a change in circumstances to which she didn’t alert the authorities to. She has no previous convictions and nothing outstanding.
“She is a deeply religious woman and has taken advice from her pastor on this matter which was a crime, but from her point of view also a sin which she takes very seriously.”
Sentencing Lanipekun to 160 hours of community service Sheriff Alan Millar said: “Clearly this situation was a financial debt to society which has to be collected through proceeds of crime proceedings.
“I am pleased to hear that it has progressed to the stage of agreement. Of course there is also a debt of trust to society and it is a serious matter for this reason.
“However, I think it is a case I can deal with by means of a community disposal.”
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