A man has been jailed after submitting 60 fraudulent gift aid claims to HMRC in relation to a sports club he set up seven years ago.
Abdul Muttakin Robbani was sentenced this week to four years and eight months in prison after claiming a total of more than £1m, of which £709,000 was paid out, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
Robbani used the money to pay off personal and family debts including paying off mortgages on two properties in Chelmsford and Ipswich, both of which were subsequently transferred into his wife's name.
The false claims submitted by Robbani stated that 716 individuals had donated between £5,000 and £10,000 to RMI Club, which he registered as a community amateur sports club in 2019.
Robbani told HMRC these individuals had been recruited via a marketing survey called the Sigma Social Impact Programme which was based around a cryptocurrency mining scheme called XO which he had created.
To create the false impression that large donations had been received, Robbani circulated money between bank accounts he controlled, using the names of purported donors as payment references, the CPS said.
HMRC banking analysis revealed that, prior to the fraud, several of these accounts held a balance of just £1.
Emma Beazley, a specialist prosecutor for the CPS, said: “Gift aid exists to boost the vital work of charities and sports clubs – Robbani cynically exploited that system for personal gain, pocketing hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money that should never have been his.
“He went to elaborate lengths to cover his tracks, embroiling hundreds of innocent members of the public into his scheme by falsely listing them as donors, and creating a web of circular bank transactions to try and disguise what he was doing.
“HMRC investigators were not deceived however and identified the fraud for what it was, painstakingly unravelling the full extent of his deception.
“Working in partnership, the CPS prosecution team built a strong case leading to Robbani having no choice but to plead guilty.
“Confiscation proceedings are ongoing under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover the profits of this criminal activity.”
