Fraudster is jailed for taking £100k Grenfell aid
THE most prolific Grenfell Tower fraudster, who falsely claimed more than £100,000 in public aid, was jailed for six years yesterday.
In the aftermath of the fire, Sharife Elouahabi posed as a relative of a family-of-five who died on the 21st floor.
He told social workers he suffered from ‘constant nightmares’ after claiming his uncle, aunt and three cousins died in the blaze.
Elouahabi, 38, claimed he lived in their flat, but survived because he was out breaking his fast for Ramadan on the night of the fire.
In reality, he lived three miles from the tower and had no connection to the El-Wahabi family. He used the similarities between their surnames to give credibility to his story.
Hanan El-Wahabi, a relative of the family, said the fraudster’s actions have caused her ‘sleepless nights’ and forced her to take time off work.
She said: ‘I am a survivor and am bereaved … I lost my brother, his wife and their three children.
‘In committing this fraud the defendant has taken from the funds meant for the genuine victims of the fire. We have had enough on our plate as it was.’
Elouahabi, who was born in London and is of Moroccan heritage, received £103,000 in accommodation, travel costs and maintenance. The package included a generous £300-a-week food budget.
He lived in three different hotels for a year and was kicked out of the first two because of bad behaviour.
Elouahabi was due to receive resettlement payments worth another £14,730 to go towards a flat and utility bills before he was found out.
After officials became suspicious, police checked CCTV footage and found no sign of him ever entering the tower block in west London.
Officers also found no evidence of his mobile phone ever being used nearby. Elouahabi pleaded guilty to one count of fraud at London’s Isleworth Crown Court on the first day of his trial earlier this month.
He is the 13th person to be convicted of defrauding the Grenfell Tower survivors’ fund. Elouahabi has 28 previous convictions for 54 offences, including robbery and common assault.
Jailing him yesterday, Judge Robin Johnson said the fraud was perpetrated with a ‘considerable amount of planning and persistence’.
He added: ‘You were manipulative and clearly convincing for a number of months. You feigned all the symptoms that one might expect of a genuine survivor.
‘The fact you lived locally and were part of the community that was so affected by the fire makes your conduct the more unattractive.’
Abdulaziz El-Wahabi, 52, his wife Faouzia, 42, and their children, Yasin, 20, Huda, 16, and Mehdi, eight, were among the 72 who died as a result of the blaze in June last year.
The fraudster, who lived in Chelsea, adopted their surname after finding details about their flat and personal lives in media reports.
Detective Constable Ben Rouse, who led the investigation, said: ‘This is the latest in what is sadly a long line of Grenfell-related frauds.’