A former Save the Children employee and two pastors have been handed prison sentences after being found guilty of gift aid fraud that totalled £1.5m.
Kwabena Duodu, former finance business partner for Save the Children UK, conspired with two pastors of London churches to falsely claim gift aid.
The trio made false claims with the information of 10 evangelical churches in London.
Duodu used the stolen money to buy a £550,000 house and sent £320,000 to Moses Asare, the head pastor of Praise Harvest Community Church in north London.
Asare used his position to convince other churches to trust him to make claims on their behalf.
After receiving his money, Asare lent some of it to his own congregation members and charged them a 120% interest rate.
John Quansah, head pastor of Heaven Light Ministry International in northeast London, was also guilty of providing false information.
Sentences
Duodu was found guilty of 10 counts of cheating the public revenue and seven counts of furnishing false information, according to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on 2 December at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London.
Asare was found guilty of five counts of cheating the public revenue, three counts of furnishing false information and one count of money laundering. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Quansah was found guilty of furnishing false information. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison and suspended for two years.
Eleanor Handslip, assistant director at HMRC’s fraud investigation service, said: “These men presented themselves as upstanding, honest, and charitable men of God.
“In reality, they were just criminals cynically abusing their positions to steal.”
A Save the Children spokesperson told Civil Society: “When HMRC notified Save the Children of its investigation we took immediate action in line with our processes, which resulted in Duodu’s suspension and subsequent dismissal.
“We conducted a thorough review into his time with the organisation and are confident there was no financial misconduct relating to Save the Children.”
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