Benefits cheat swindled £23k:
GORAN SARBAST MADE THE BOGUS CLAIMS TO ‘PAY BILLS’
A DERBY benefits cheat illegally claimed more than £23,000 over a three-year period by lying about his wife’s employment status.
Derby Crown Court heard Goran Sarbast continued to receive both the jobseeker’s allowance and housing benefit despite his wife holding down a full-time job.
Now the Department for Work and Pensions is to recover the cash.
Christopher Jeyes, prosecuting, said that, between July 2014 and April 2017, the 46-year-old, of Alvaston, took a total of £23,144 from the state which he was not entitled to.
When the fraud was discovered he made full admissions to the investigators that he knew what he did was wrong.
But, when it came to court, Sarbast denied the charge and took it to trial.
He was found guilty of two counts of benefit fraud and he was sent to the crown court for sentencing.
Mr Jeyes said: “This was fraudulent from the outset. In July 2014, he put in a claim for JSA [jobseeker’s allowance] for himself, his wife and his child, declaring that his wife’s employment had ended.
“But this was untrue because she started work in September 2009 and remained in employment throughout the duration of the claim.
“The JSA claim meant that he was also eligible for housing benefit and, between the dates in the indictment, more than £16,000 in JSA was paid out along with almost £7,000 in housing benefit.
“In his interview, he largely accepted that he failed to declare the truth, saying he did this because his family could not pay the bills without it [the benefits]. There is in place a civil process for the recovery of the money.”
Judge Shaun Smith QC told Digby Johnson, Sarbast’s solicitor: “It’s unfortunate he decided to have a trial at the magistrates’ court but I feel there may be some explanation for that. There is a recommendation in his pre-sentence report for a community order and I feel this is what this merits.”
Mr Johnson replied: “There’s nothing I want to add.”
Judge Smith then told Sarbast, of Benson Street: “You are 46 years of age and you have never been in trouble before. “I have read that you are a man that likes to work and is not a shirker but unfortunately you decided to take advantage of the system we have here for people that can’t afford certain things. You admitted that but then you decided to have a trial at the magistrates’ court.
“I am going to put that down to language and your understanding of the legal system rather than anything else.
“The reality is that you need to pay a debt to the community and that is what you will do.”
Judge Smith handed Sarbast a 12-month community order with 180 hours unpaid work.
You are not a shirker but unfortunately you decided to take advantage of the system. Judge Shaun Smith QC