Charity director who fraudulently claimed £31,000 in benefits walks free from court and won't repay a penny
Last updated at 11:57 AM on 11th August 2011
Charity director: Memory Mafuta with pictures of the medical aid waiting to be shipped to Zimbabwe last year
The director of an African aid charity, who fraudulently pocketed more than £30,000 of benefits, escaped jail when a judge ruled ‘taxpayers would not benefit’ from her being behind bars.
Memory Mafuta, 39, of Westcliff, Essex, set up Orphanage Care Support Unit, which offers help and support to children in Africa whose parents have died from AIDS.
But despite her seemingly respectable standing, the Zimbabwe-born fraudster pocketed £31,000 in housing and council tax benefits by claiming to live alone and not be in work.
Her fraudulent behaviour was spotted when Southend Council's fraud team discovered she had applied for several credit cards in her name, stating her earned £40,000 a year and lived with a partner.
It also emerged she had been employed as a care worker after applying for jobs using faked national insurance numbers.
The scam went on for seven years before Mafuta was finally caught out.
Investigations revealed that at one stage she had £14,000 of savings but the court heard the money has now been spent.
Amazingly Mafuta, who does not speak English, will not have to hand back a penny of her illegal gains because she is now penniless, the court was told.
At court: Recorder Tim Clark, at Basildon Crown Court (pictured), said: 'Taxpayers in this country will not benefit from me sending you to prison'
The mother-of-three pleaded guilty to nine counts of benefit fraud between 2003 and 2010, but avoided jail and was instead handed a nine-month suspended sentence.
Recorder Tim Clark, at Basildon Crown Court, said: ‘Taxpayers in this country will not benefit from me sending you to prison.
‘Benefits in this country are provided to the weakest and most vulnerable.
‘There has to be honesty from those who apply for benefits - honesty about their earnings, their family circumstances and their savings.’
In total Mafuta illegally received £31,072.
Recorder Clark said Mafuta's previous good character and dealings with charity had worked in her favour.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024450/Charity-director-fraudulently-claimed-31-000-benefits-walks-free-court-wont-repay-penny.html#ixzz1UkRAE8Qg
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