Portsmouth man sentenced to four years' imprisonment for falsely claiming benefits

17/08/2012

A man has today been sentenced to four years’ imprisonment at Portsmouth Crown Court for obtaining a total of £98,730.30 from Portsmouth City Council after claiming he was severely disabled.

Following the sentence, Matthew Lawson, Crown Advocate for the Crown Prosecution Service in Wessex said: 'For ten years, Abdul Esfandmozd claimed he was severely disabled in order to obtain payments from Portsmouth City Council.

He obtained a total of £98,730.30 in direct payments from Portsmouth City Council.

'In order to obtain these benefit payments from the Council Abdul Esfandmozd was required to sign Assessment and Care Agreements and Care Review Forms, which set out his purported disabilities and needs.  

'In these forms he repeatedly maintained that he was incapable of standing or walking except with crutches and reliant on a motorised wheelchair for mobility.

'These payments, which were made on top of Department for Work and Pension (DWP) benefits totalling over £140,000, were made to Abdul Esfandmozd for the provision of carers to support his day-to-day living and were made into his bank account to enable him to pay for care workers. Two of the people employed as care workers by Abdul Esfandmozd between 2000 and 2002 were Jacqueline Taylor and her son Jason Gubb.

'The benefits claimed by Abdul Esfandmozd were means tested and not payable to anyone with assets of over £16,000. In order to conceal his assets from Portsmouth City Council and ensure that his benefits continued to be paid he entered into an arrangement with Jason Gubb and JacquelineTaylor, paying them £22,000 in return for a charge in that sum over their property.

'He also purchased his property for £51,000 under the right to buy scheme with the money passing through Jason Gubb's bank account to conceal its origins. In addition, Abdul Esfandmozd purchased premium bonds in the names of Jason Gubb and Jacqueline Taylor and purchased another house for £70,000 cash.

'A search of the Abdul Esfandmozd's address revealed an account in the United States in his name containing $27,000 while a further £70,000 in cash belonging to him was found on Jacqueline Taylor on her arrest.

'Throughout his trial, Abdul Esfandmozd remained in his wheelchair and continued to assert that he was severely disabled. The jury saw over six hours of the defendant's home-movies of trips abroad during which he was shown walking long distances, swimming and dancing with no apparent physical difficulty. These were taken during the period he was claiming benefits.

'The jury additionally heard that further home movies showed trips to Cyprus and the United States in which Abdul Esfandmozd was shown diving into a swimming pool and meeting estate agents to view properties. The jury was also shown photographs of Abdul Esfandmozd dancing and carrying a woman in his arms.

'Abdul Esfandmozd was found guilty of offences of fraud, obtaining money transfers by deception and offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act by a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court on July 17. JacquelineTaylor and Jason Gubb had on an earlier occasion pleaded guilty to offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act. They will be sentenced on 31 August at Portsmouth Crown Court.

'Following Abdul Esfandmozds convictions, the Crown Prosecution Service will now make an application to the Court to confiscate his assets obtained through his offending.'