Five years for IT analyst who plundered housing charity

An IT analyst for a social housing charity was jailed for five years today (thurs) for trying to fleece his employers out of nearly £430,000.

Adeshola Dada, 51, stole at least £138,000 from the Genesis Housing Association with the help of the three money launderers.

Fortunately staff at Barclays became suspicious just in time to stop a further £290,090 being stolen away from the charity which provides housing for vulnerable people.

Money launderers Ansar Ali, 43, Danielle Brown, 24, and James McMasters, 24, received suspended sentences for helping Dada hide the cash.

Ali pleaded guilty ahead of trial while the others were all convicted.

The fraudster himself showed little reaction as he was jailed at Southwark Crown Court and headed to the cells without even remembering to take his luggage with him.

The judge, Ms Recorder Cheryl Jones told Dada: ‘Placing your own employees under suspicion is a very uncomfortable position for an employer to find themselves in.

‘You implicated two of your colleagues.

‘It is highly unlikely that you took these risks and created such an elaborate fraud without intending to make some gain for yourself.

‘You family’s fate was in your hands.’

Addressing ‘vulnerable and easily led’ Brown, the judge said: ‘This kind of criminality facilitates a much greater criminality.

‘Having a number of feeder accounts such as yours enables large amounts of money to be extracted and then farmed out so quickly that there is no chance of retrieving it.’

To McMasters, who has an IQ of just 72, she said: ‘You were more than aware at the time that what you were doing was criminal.

‘The monies were withdrawn with your assistance and have not been recovered.’

Addressing Ali, who was responsible for the majority of the laundering, the judge said: ‘You have admitted that you did this out of greed.

‘You were a significant part.

‘You facilitated the fraud.’

Ali wept in the dock upon hearing he would be avoiding jail.

Genesis is a non-profit charity which owns and provides social housing across London and the East of England.

Father-of-two Dada was an ICT analyst on the charity’s IT help desk for more than two years helping users with computer issues including, notably, password creation.

He was not meant to be involved in financial transactions at all yet managed to pilfer more than £100,000 from the organisation.

Dada had previously been jailed in 2005 for nine months after a series of fraudulent insurance claims totalling ‘just over £3,000’ about his phone being stolen on the tube.

Prosecutor James Thacker explained how Dada carried out his latest crimes during the trial earlier this year.

Mr Thacker said: ‘On June 27 2011, Genesis’s internal audit team discovered a fraudulent payment in the sum of £138,788.24 had been made from their bank account at Barclays Bank to a NatWest bank account unknown to Genesis.’

That money was meant to go to Pathmeads Property Service who carry out maintenance work for the charity but went to the unknown account.

‘Genesis went to court on June 30, 2011 against NatWest and got a freezing order, which stopped the money going anywhere, and ordered the disclosure of the identity of the account holder and a copy of bank statements to trace the payment,’ Mr Thacker continued.

‘By this time some of it had already gone, but it did allow them to stop another payment that would have gone through, in the sum of £290,090.04.’

Disclosure from NatWest revealed the money had been sent to a company called Factwise Limited, of which Ali was a director.

Smaller amount of money see also transferred to Brown and McMasters – £9,491 and £9,981 respectively.

Following an internal investigation it was found that the details of a former senior surveyor – Richard Keys – were used to gain access.

‘Records show that Richard Keys’ password was changed.

‘Forensic evidence shows that Dada was the only person with password reset rights.’

Dada’s laptop was then seized and he told police he would sometimes loan it out to people but would not keep a record of it.

Mr Keys had handed over his Genesis items before leaving the company in June 2011 and was not at all involved with the scam.

Another innocent employee had her password hijacked by Dada, using Mr Keys’ account, so that he could access the funds and carry out the fraud.

Brown received the funds via Ali’s account in 20 instalments and the funds were withdrawn in batches before the account was frozen on July 1 2011.

McMasters also picked up the cash via bank transfer from Ali’s stolen stash but claimed on arrest he had lost his wallet containing his bank card and numerous personal details.

But in a further interview he stated he was asked by a friend for use of his bank account and he ‘realised that his friend had taken advantage of him’ before admitting his previous account was untrue.

Dada, of Watts Crescent, Thurrock, Essex, was convicted of two counts of fraud and jailed for five years.

Brown, of Benworth Street, Bow, and McMasters, of The Heights, Northolt, received a nine month sentence suspended for a year and a one year sentence suspended for two years respectfully after being found guilty of a single count of acquiring criminal property.

McMasters must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work due to trying to shift the blame onto other people while Brown has been made subject to a curfew.

Ali, of Limehouse Causeway, Tower Hamlets, admitted the same offence and was handed a two year sentence suspended for two years and must carry out 225 hours of unpaid work.
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