Albanian mother of three guilty of fraud of more than £20K
An Albanian woman has pleaded guilty to claiming more than £20,000 in benefits after failing to declare that her working husband was living with her.
Mother-of-three Xheku Brahmi of Turner Street, West Bromwich pleaded guilty to two counts of dishonestly failing to disclose information to make a gain and one count of fraud by false representation.
27-year-old Brahmi appeared alongside an interpreter at Walsall Magistrates court on Friday where she was order to complete a 12 month community order, including a supervised victim awareness course, with a specific activity requirement and 140 hours of unpaid work. She was also ordered by Magistrate Ms Eileen Jones to pay costs of £100 and a victim surcharge of £60, a total of £160.
The court heard how Brahmi, who is mother to a five-year-old, a two-year-old and a one-month-old baby, claimed a total of £22,732.76 in benefits and income support that she wasn't entitled to.
The offences took place between May 31 2011 and December 8 2011 with Brahmi failing to tell the Department for Work and Pensions that she shared a house with her Muhammad Daniyal whilst she was claiming income support.
Then on August 20 2012, she completed an application for Income Support without telling the authorities she was living with Mr Daniyal.
Then between May 31 2011 and December 11 2011 she committed fraud by not telling Wolverhampton Borough Council that she was living with Mr Daniyal in order to claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax.
Mrs Val Hart, prosecuting, said: "This cause concerns Xheku Brahmi claiming income support, housing benefit and council tax which totals £22,732.76.
"She claimed she was a single parent living alone in the property.
"She failed to tell authorities that she had a partner who moved in to her address.
"When interviewed, she admitted he had lived at her address for about a week when they got married and then lived with her for four or five months. She said she knew she had to report any change in her circumstances to the Department for Work and Pensions."
A probation report read out in court revealed that Brahmi had said that though her husband had been working, he had kept the money for himself. Since claiming the money, she had been paying £30 a month back to the authorities.
Magistrate Jones said: "These offences are extremely serious.
"However, probation has given a very good report and we are inclined to follow the recommendations.
"We know you are paying some of this money back and that the total amount will be paid back eventually."
