A Greater Manchester benefit cheat who fraudulently claimed more than £20,000 of taxpayers’ money has been brought to justice – after being exposed with £34,000 of his own savings.
Mohammed Aslam, from Rochdale, was found to be claiming housing council tax and income support for four years despite having £34,000 worth of undisclosed capital savings.
Rochdale Council’s in-house legal team brought the case to Bury & Rochdale Magistrates’ Court on July 23 and Aslam pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud.
Councillor Farooq Ahmed said: “Failing to disclose important financial information as a way of fraudulently collecting benefits is simply unacceptable.
“We should not have to waste precious time and resources bringing benefit cheats to justice but we will continue to do so using full weight of the law to make sure financial support only goes to the most vulnerable people.”
Aslam, a father of five, has been unemployed for some time and is medically unfit for work.
In court he admitted withholding information about his savings that he knew would affect his entitlement to benefits.
He was sentenced to a two month Community Order and will be subject to a curfew between 9pm and 7am every day.
As well as being ordered to pay £500 and £60 surcharge, Aslam has since started to voluntarily repay the money owed.
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