Over 1 million dollars recovered from British-Indian woman in fraud case
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Both the accused led a lavish lifestyle despite their combined declared annual income not crossing USD 61,500
A UK's investigation agency has recovered more than USD 1 million worth of assets from a British Indian woman and her Nigerian partner.
Ayodele Oluseye Odewale, also known as Ayodele Balogun and Sara Bharat Yadav were asked to hand over USD 12,69,027.30 (1,011,431 pounds) to the National Crime Agency (NCA) at the High Court under the UK Proceeds of Crime Act this week.
Both the accused led a lavish lifestyle despite their combined declared annual income not crossing USD 61,500.
"Odewale and Yadav had extravagant lifestyles funded from stealing the identities of honest, law abiding citizens. We have recovered their assets so they see no benefit from their unlawful activity," Andy Lewis, head of Asset Denial at the NCA, said, reported news agency PTI.
The probe found that the couple had transcated in hundreds of thousands of dollars from their bank accounts annually, despite the Niegrian not having had any legitimate employment earnings post his release from prison in 2005, and far in excess of the British-Indian woman's managerial salary.
The NCA said Odewale is a convicted fraudster, who made millions from scams that typically targetted people living in affluent areas by making fake credit cards on their names.
In her verdict, Justice Maura McGowan found the evidence "detailed, cogent, and helpful".
The court was informed how the couple sent their three children to a private school, which costs around USD 46,000 per year, and enjoyed frequent luxurious vacations in India, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Cape Verde and Turkey.
The judge also said Yadav, who remained in UK after Odewale left for Nigeria in 2016, "dishonestly chose to turn a blind eye to the illegitimacy of those funds".