£1m Grenfell ‘scam’
Probe on ‘15 family members in 1 flat’
A FRAUD probe is under way after 15 family members claimed they all lived in one flat at Grenfell Tower and took nearly £1million in aid cash.
Four names are believed to appear on the agreement for the three-bed flat, despite claims by the Naqshbandi family.
Masi Naqshbandi, jailed for seven years in 2012 for insurance fraud, met Prince William at a support centre after the blaze. He is now living in one of the high-end flats in Kensington set aside for survivors. Masi is still on the electoral roll at a Harrow address but insists he was living at Grenfell before the blaze.
Members of the family, from Afghanistan, got at least three flats in a block set aside for survivors. A couple named the third-floor Grenfell flat as home on their son’s birth certificate two days after the fire. A mother, father, six adult children and three partners and their kids claim to have been residents.
A source close to the case told the Sunday Times it was “outrageous”. Kensington and Chelsea council has begun a fraud probe and deputy leader Kim Taylor-Smith said: “It is important public perception of survivors and bereaved is not tarnished by a very small minority.”
The West London blaze killed 71 in June last year. Last month, Anh Nhu Nguyen, 52, got 21 months for pretending his wife and son were killed to pocket £12,000.