A Nigerian fraudster who hijacked the identities of
soldiers and nurses in a $1.3 million benefits plot has been jailed in
the UK for six years.
Chibuikem Uzoma-Ubani and another Nigerian partner in crime opened 752 bank accounts to perpetrate the fraud.
Chibuikem
Uzoma-Ubani, 29, persuaded several lovers to help him launder the
profits from the swindle that targeted tax credits and Sure Start
maternity grants, reports The Daily Mail.
Denisa Camacho,
28, of Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire, and Katrina Papiernikova, 27, of
Romford, Essex both had relationships with Uzoma-Ubani, after arriving
in the UK from Slovakia and were accused of turning a blind eye to his
activities.
Uzoma-Ubani, of Romford, Essex, married Camacho in 2004, then divorced her and had two children by Papiernikova.
The
women both insisted they knew nothing about his crooked schemes and
were both cleared of money laundering, but a third lover Ornela Miguel,
26, admitted the offence. Uzoma-Ubani and fellow Nigerian Leonard
Nwannenah, 33, of Dagenham, Essex, opened a ‘bewildering’ 752 bank
accounts using the names of hard-working medics and members of the armed
forces over a six-year period.
The pair were jailed Monday for six years each while Miguel was handed a three-month sentence, suspended for 12 months.
Nwannenah’s
younger brother Okechi Nwannenah, 30,
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