£2m fraudsters to repay just £500k

THREE jailed fraudsters behind one of Britain’s biggest benefit scams will pay back only a fraction of their £2million proceeds.

The ‘fraud factory’ involved hundreds of Bangladeshis being flown into Britain and given passports, sham addresses and national insurance numbers so they could illegally claim cash from the taxpayer.

The gang behind the scam have been ordered to pay back around £500,000 because they claim they have no more money. But inquiries by the Daily Mail reveal all three have, or had, valuable property interests.

The fraud was masterminded by accountant Chowdhury Muyeed, 53, helped by his wife Asma Khanam, 48. The pair were jailed for five-and-ahalf years and three-and-a-half years respectively last April. Habibur Rahman, 37, who aided them, was jailed for three years and three months.

Muyeed has been ordered to repay £204,595.64, and his wife £228,444.53. They were given three months to pay or face a further 27 months in jail.

Rahman, who ran a recruitment firm which supplied addresses and fake jobs for the benefits cheats, has been ordered to repay £66,344 and £10,000 in costs.

The fraudsters claim they cannot pay back what they owe but Muyeed and his wife owned a home in Manor Park, east London, which they sold some months before their trial for £275,000. The four-bedroom property is valued at £490,000.

It is believed Rahman has been freed and is living in Mile End, also east London. The three-bedroom home was bought by Rahman in May 2008 for £249,999, but is now worth around £393,000.

During a trial last year, Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London heard how the couple set up two charities – Families for Survival UK and Save the Age – as fronts for the scam.

Two London boroughs, Redbridge and Tower Hamlets, lost at least £1.6million between them through fake housing benefit and council tax credit claims. The Department for Work and Pensions also lost £420,000 from bogus tax credit claims.