Benefits fraudsters told to pay £40k
A couple from the Black Country have been ordered to repay a total of more than £40,000 they fiddled in state and council tax benefits.
Rana Amir, aged 42, and his wife, Mandip, 30, fraudulently picked up the cash in income support and council tax benefit in just over three years.
The couple, of Winfield Avenue, Kingswinford, declared themselves incapable of work, with neither earnings nor savings – but Rana Amir was selling TV and film equipment online.
And Wolverhampton Crown Court heard a total of more than £83,000 went through a Halifax bank account.
Recorder Mark Warby yesterday ordered them each to repay £20,367, which includes £1,367 each compensation to Dudley Council. He warned the couple: "If it is not paid in six months there will be a prison sentence each of 12 months." Rana Amir was jailed for 10 months just over a year ago, when Mandip Amir was given an 18-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months.
Both admitted fraudulently claiming income support between December 2005 and February 2009 and council tax benefit from September 2006 to February 2009. Mr Anthony Potter, prosecuting at the proceeds of crime hearing, told Wolverhampton Crown that the money they obtained had been used towards buying their house.
